


Trying to Forget (Everything)

by enigmasMystery



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: ASL, Albino Character, Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, And just roll with it, Angst, Anxiety, Because I have to establish everything, Bullying, Depression, Drinking, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Gay Characters, Holy crud am I tagging everything correctly???, Hurt/Comfort, I'm doing my best to keep everyone in character, Insomnia, Insulting the Government, It's towards the monsters so just in case, LGBTQ+ characters, M/M, Many Original Characters - Freeform, My First Fanfic, Nightmares, Oh boy I'm a terrible person for doing these things to these characters, Or at least in my experience they don't, Original Characters - Freeform, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Panic Attacks, People don't just become friends over night, Physical Abuse, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Post-Undertale Pacifist Route, Racism, Reader Is Not Frisk, Self-Harm, Self-Hatred, Signing, Sleep Disorder(s), Slow Build, Suicidal Thoughts, This story is full of headcanons, headcanons, let's be honest here, minor character death (past), nonbinary characters - Freeform, so please be kind
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-22
Updated: 2017-03-20
Packaged: 2018-09-19 05:36:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 33,321
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9420899
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/enigmasMystery/pseuds/enigmasMystery
Summary: The monsters of the Underground have just been released and the government wants them to try living in the small town of Ebott (such an original name, am I right?) to see if humans and monsters can get along.Enter the main character, Elanor Nova, who quite frankly just wants to quietly live out their days at the small bookstore they work at, not deal with drama caused by people being jerks towards monsters. But hey, someone's got to do it.(And that summary probably sucks. Basically there are quite a few characters in Undertale that have issues and many unanswered questions, so this headcanon-filled story will attempt to answer some of those questions and hopefully help those characters deal with their issues. In short, I just want them all to be happy, let’s see if we can get them there.)





	1. Here is Where Our Story Starts

**Author's Note:**

> Here's the first chapter for you! I'll try to update regularly but hey, I'm a duel-major college kid, sometimes I won't have time but I'll try my best! Also sorry about the line that separates sections, it's supposed to indicate a scene change but I can't get it to be centered on both phone and computer views, so if it's off center, sorry.
> 
> (Also just so you know I'll try to include warnings about stuff that happens in each chapter. This one just introduces the characters so nothing bad here, yay!)

      Elanor woke up with a start, whatever dream they were having slowly fading from memory. Whatever the dream had been about hadn’t been good- if their racing heart and gasping breath was any indicator to that- but at least it was over now. They slowly reached over to their phone on the bedside table and flipped it open to check the time. 4:27 in the morning. Elanor groaned, grabbed their glasses, and staggered out of bed, it may have been ungodly early but they weren’t going to be able to fall back asleep any time soon. Glancing at themselves in the mirror, they instantly noticed the dark circles standing out against the pale skin under their bright blue eyes. After a closer inspection they sighed and scratched their white haired head, no amount of makeup was going to cover those up, at least not completely, all they could do later was try and hope for the best.

      After flipping on the staircase light Elanor descended, holding onto the handrail just in case, and then walked the two steps to the left to enter the kitchenette. Once the power button on the Keurig was pressed and it began warming up Elanor sat at the four-person table that separated the kitchenette from the living room. Head in hands as they yawned, they slowly looked around their little condo. The entryway was right by the table they were currently seated at and opened into the living room which contained one old- yet deceptively comfy- sofa, a small wooden coffee table in the center, and a decent TV on a stand across from the sofa and right by the doorway to the study. The study had nearly every wall covered in bookshelves, except for the corner farthest away from the door, where a small desk held a printer and just enough room for a laptop. The kitchenette itself only held a refrigerator, which sat next to the counter top which held the microwave, sink, dishwasher, and oven, and on the wall in the corner held a small pantry. Upstairs had two rooms, Elanor’s bedroom and a guest room. Looking around anyone would notice how bare it was, no pictures or paintings lined the walls, in fact there were only two pictures in the entire condo, one in Elanor’s bedroom and the other on the desk in the study.

      The sudden silence brought Elanor back to reality, and they slowly shuffled over to the pantry to get a Chai Tea Latte K-cup. After placing it in the Keurig and letting it start to brew, they walked over to the TV to put on a movie for background noise. It wasn’t that they didn’t like the early morning silence, in fact most of the time Elanor enjoyed it, it was just that this morning, after the unremembered dream, it seemed suffocating, like the lack of life around them was slowly draining their life as well. They shook their head to clear it of those thoughts as they put on whatever movie they had been watching on Netflix last and went back over to grab the freshly brewed Chai Tea Latte.

      With caffeine in hand they looked over at the microwave clock- it was only 4:40, their shift at the bookstore didn’t start until 8 so they still had plenty of time before they needed to get ready. Grabbing the remote from the coffee table they switched the TV from _The Avengers_ to _House, M.D._ and waited for it to be time to get ready for work.

                               -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

      Elanor glanced at the grandfather clock ticking in the corner of the store and sighed, their manager had left to get them both lunch almost an hour ago, and with only the usual slow trickle of customers it felt like every second stretched into a minute. That was the only problem with a small town, nothing ever happened and when it was the middle of a work day then customers were near nonexistent at the small bookstore. They looked back towards the Sudoku puzzle on the desk, debating whether to finish it or just leave it for a book to read.

      The bell for the door chimed and Elanor’s head shot up, smile instantly spreading across their face as they prepared to greet whoever just walked in. They couldn’t help how their eyes widened slightly at the group that walked it. It wasn’t the small half asleep child with brown shoulder-length hair who couldn’t have been more than 12 that caused the reaction. It was the monsters with the child that surprised them. Sure, Elanor knew that monsters existed and currently lived in a newly completed housing development on the edge of town as they began integrating into human society, but they mostly kept to themselves so this was the first chance Elanor had to interact with them. The monsters that walked in were two skeletons- one short with a grin that spelled trouble, blue hoodie, basketball shorts, and pink fuzzy slippers and a tall one wearing a red scarf, t-shirt that read “Cool Dude”, jeans, and sneakers- and a small bipedal lizard wearing a _Sword Art Online_ t-shirt, jeans, and sandals. They quickly recovered and tried to make their face look like it normally did when greeting customers.

“Welcome to Edward’s Books, is there anything I can help you with today?” They chirped, trying to make sure the group felt welcome in the store. The shorter of the skeletons looked over at them, eye sockets widening at their appearance as the others dispersed, the tall skeleton and child going towards the children’s section and the lizard towards the manga.

“nah kid, we’re just browsing today.” He said, quickly erasing the surprise from his face, a reaction Elanor was used to at this point in their life.

“Okie dokie, just yell if you need anything.” The skeleton nodded and walked off towards the science fiction section. Mentally Elanor patted themselves on the back for painting easy to read signs on the walls and above each section, each sign clearly visible from anywhere in the store. With the group looking throughout the store Elanor once again began working on the Sudoku puzzle, easily filling in the squares thanks to years of practice.

      The bell chimed once again, and when they looked up they saw their manager walk in with a bag of Chinese takeout in one arm and a drycleaners bag held high above her silver haired head with the other.

“Elanor darling I am so sorry it took me so long, after getting the food my cleaners called saying they finished with my dress early so since I was already over in that area and it hadn’t taken me too long to get the food I stopped there but then there was an accident on Sunset Drive so traffic was stalled and I got caught in it so-”

“Mrs. Ellis it’s completely alright, it’s not like there’s been an overwhelming amount of customers coming through here.” Elanor interrupted with a smile. There was simply no way they could ever be mad at the little old woman, between her warm smile and infectious laughter the elderly lady was one of the few people left in Elanor’s life that they looked forward to seeing. 

“HUMAN, IF I REMEMBER CORRECTLY THEN THIS IS THE SERIES THAT THE QUEEN RECOMMENDED FOR YOU TO READ NEXT.” The voice easily carried in the small shop, startling both workers in the front. Mrs. Ellis’s eyes widened at the sight of the tall skeleton and quickly turned towards Elanor.

“Is that a monster, there’s one here in the shop?” She quickly whispered, fear lacing her voice. Elanor nodded.

“Yes ma’am, there’s another two here as well. If you want you can go to the back and have lunch while I ring them up, then we’ll switch after they leave, ok?” They replied softly, not wanting to cause a scene and make the monsters uncomfortable while at the same time making sure her boss was alright.

      Mrs. Ellis nodded, relief evident on her face as she quickly took the bags with her to the small break room just past the storage room located behind the front desk. Elanor sighed as the crisis was averted. It wasn’t that their employer had anything against monsters (at least as far as Elanor knew), it was just she didn’t adjust to new things very quickly. When they first started working in the bookstore the inventory and all sales logs were still on paper, so they had offered to computerize it all and teach her how to operate the system. It all took the better part of two months- one to computerize and almost another to teach Mrs. Ellis, who was most definitely not computer savvy- but in the end it had been worth it with the time saved searching the inventory and calculating total sales. Once she became used to monsters living on the surface Mrs. Ellis would probably become as nice to them as she is to her own grandchildren.

      Ignoring their grumbling stomach and making sure a smile was plastered on their face, Elanor began walking towards the anime section to check on one of the customers. When they reached it they found the lizard monster with their nose in one of the mangas, a small smile spreading across their lips.

“Are you finding everything alright today?” Elanor asked, and as the small monster startled they felt bad for scaring them, however it was a reaction they were used to by this point in their life. Between how quietly they walked and their ghost-like appearance it was a very common reaction.

“Um y-yes, I w-was wondering if you h-had any copies of the f-first issue of _Naurto_ , I h-hear that’s a popular anime and I-I wanted to try th-the manga.” She said, at least going by the voice Elanor thought the slightly shorter monster was female, but they were definitely the last person to make an assumption on that particular topic.

“I can check the inventory log for you, but if it’s not on the shelf then we mostly likely don’t have it in stock at the moment, we try to keep the first book in a series of anything on the shelf. If it’s not in stock and you’re alright with waiting I can place an order for you, which depending on where it’s stored can take anywhere from three to seven business days.”

“If you don’t mind ch-checking that would be great.” She said, eyes cast towards the ground. Elanor smiled warmly, hoping that it wasn’t them that was making the monster nervous.

“Alrighty then, just follow me to the front desk and I’ll check on the computer,” they started walking back towards the desk, “it shouldn’t take more than a couple minutes to check since it’s all been computerized. You should have seen it when I first got here, every time someone asked about a book we would have to check the backroom and it turns out people don’t like waiting five to ten minutes on if we have a book, especially in this day and age. And I’ve started rambling, sorry about that.” They quickly logged into the computer and pulled up the search bar on their inventory.

“N-no it’s alright, at least y-you can make small talk, whenever I try to my m-mind goes blank and next thing I k-know it’s become an awkward silence.” Elanor laughed at that.

“You pretty much just described me in high school, I practically was mute unless someone started asking me about a book I’d read or whatever science project I was working on. Alright, it looks like we don’t currently have it, so would you like to place an order, if you I just need your name and phone number or email address.” At the mention of science her face lit up.

“Sure, my name is Alphys and m-my phone number is (***) 867-5309. What b-branch of science do you like?”

“I think the easier question would be what branch of science don’t I like,” Elanor laughed, “Right now I’d have to say some of my favorites are robotics, chemistry, computer programming, and physics, but so far I have yet to find one that I didn’t find at least a little bit interesting.” As they spoke they could see Alphys’ grin grow wider, especially once they mentioned robotics and computer programming.

“Have y-you ever built anything?” At the question Elanor grinned, fondly remembering all her former projects.

“Oh yeah, I used to get robotics kits all the time, most of the time I wouldn’t follow the instructions and I would take parts from multiple kits to make my own little robots. I would always build one for my younger brother’s birthday, he would just love playing with them. His favorite was probably this little dog I made for him when he was 10, he has really bad allergies so we couldn’t get a real one so when he saw it I swear he just fell in love with it, he was always having it follow him around. The coding for voice commands took _forever_ though in the end it was worth it.” The smile slid from their face and they looked down at the desk. “He was always worth it…” Elanor muttered.

“hey alph, make a new friend?” Elanor and Alphys turned, walking towards them were the two skeletons and human child. As the group approached Elanor quickly put on what they hoped was a convincing smile.

“H-hey Sans, I was just talking to her about science, more specifically r-robotics.”

“cool, I’m _circuit_ it was a _positive_ experience for the both of you.” Elanor chuckled at the puns and began scanning the small pile of books the taller skeleton had placed on the counter before turning towards Sans.

“SANS, THAT WAS TERRIBLE, EVEN FOR YOU!” He turned towards Elanor, the ridges above his eye sockets raised in what looked like concern. “HUMAN ARE YOU ALRIGHT, FROM MY ALBEIT LIMITED EXPERIENCE WITH HUMANS  THEY ONLY BECOME PALE WHEN SOMETHING IS WRONG. IF IT IS MY BROTHER’S PUNS THAT ARE CAUSING YOU DISTRESS I’M SURE HE WILL STOP IMMEDIATELY.” At this Elanor laughed.

“No, I’m fine, I’m always this pale. I have something called albinism which is a genetic disorder that causes my body to produce little to no melanin, which is what causes skin pigmentation. It’s also to blame for my bad eyesight, freckles, and the fact I burn really easily, but my symptoms _pale_ in comparison to how bad it could be. That will be $41.26.” Elanor grinned, the opportunity too good to pass up. The tall skeleton groaned while handing over a card, the child and Sans grinned while Alphys giggled, making Elanor’s smile grow wider, there was nothing better than having a crowd that appreciated puns.

“that was pretty good, i’ll _chalk_ it up to you having plenty of experience with this topic.” They laughed as they handed over the bag and card back to the taller skeleton, who quickly began to walk over towards the door.

“Mister, you really shouldn’t start a pun war with me on this subject, I’ll _white_ the floor with you.” This one caused Alphys to start laughing while the kid’s shoulders began shaking with silent laughter.

“SANS, ALPHYS, FRISK, WE REALLY MUST BE GOING NOW, WE STILL HAVE TO STOP BY THE GROCERY STORE!”

“alright paps, we’re coming,” Sans called towards the front, and then turned back towards Elanor. “sorry kid, we have to get going, to be continued.” With that he began walking towards the front with Frisk, who waved at Elanor with a large grin on their face. Elanor waved and then turned back to Alphys who was still at the desk.

“I’ll place the order right away and then call when it arrives, is there any specific time that works for you or do you just want me to call right away?” Alphys quickly shook her head at the question.

“No, a-any time works, thanks for ordering it for me. It was n-nice talking to you.” She said as she walked towards the group waiting at the front.

“Anytime.” Elanor replied, waving as the group left the shop. Once they were out of sight Elanor went quickly through the storage room, weaving through the small stacks of empty boxes from yesterday’s shipment, and into the breakroom to switch out with their boss and finally eat their lunch.


	2. Trying to Swim but Sinking Instead

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Something comes up with Elanor and later Alphys comes by the bookshop to pick up her new manga. (Terrible summary, I know, but that's about what happens, sorry).
> 
> Also this is where things start to get dark and in the notes at the beginning I'm going to include tags that apply to this chapter. If any of them bug you then you can skip to the end for a PG synopsis.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tags that apply: Nightmares, Panic attacks, Depression, Misgendering of a nonbinary person, Self-Hatred.
> 
> Text in italics=nightmare  
> Text in italics with quotes around it=signing

_“Hey Jack, I’m home.” Elanor called out as they dropped their keys in the small dish on the dining table. One of these days they were going to pick up a small coffee table to put beside the couch so the key dish could rest there, but this would do until they were more financially stable. They waited for an answer as they slid off their shoes, but only silence greeted them._

_“Jack?” They called out once again, curious about why their brother wasn’t at least calling out to let them know he was alive. “I swear, if he’s sleeping again…” They muttered to themselves, climbing the stairs silently. If Jack was sleeping then they didn’t want to wake him, even though he didn’t talk about it Elanor knew he was still having nightmares on a near nightly basis. When they reached the top of the stairs they turned right towards Jack’s room, slowly turning the handle so it wouldn’t squeak, and lightly pushed open the door. Expecting to see their younger brother’s lanky body lying on the bed, they were surprised when the empty room was what they saw._

_“Jack, where you at?” They called, knowing that he hated anything that even came close to a rhyme, especially when his name was involved. They quickly looked around the bare room. Due to the lack of funds the mint green room was barely furnished, a bed was pushed up against the far corner of the room, two windows with dark, threadbare curtains were in the middle of the same walls the bed was pressed up against, a short dresser sat in the corner of the wall the door was in and the wall to the left, and the four-legged desk that always had Jack complaining about with how much it wobbled rested against the wall to the right. The room’s owner was nowhere to be seen._

_“Jack, answer me, where are you?” Elanor yelled, unable to keep the rising panic out of their voice. It was 7:43 in the evening, he should have been back from school hours ago, and he hadn’t mentioned going anywhere afterwards. They quickly ran through their room and the adjoining bathroom, searching as quickly as they could. When they found no sign of him there they ran downstairs and quickly into the study and that room’s connecting bathroom. There was no sign of him anywhere in the condo._

_Trying to keep their breathing even, Elanor quickly pulled out their phone and dialed Jack’s number, hoping that he would answer since his phone never left his side. As they waited their mind raced with every possible worst case scenario, each gradually getting darker and more twisted than the last, making their eyes water and their breathing become more ragged. Suddenly the sound of bongo drums began playing and Elanor raced towards the sound they had come to know as Jack’s ringtone. They entered the living room and looked in the direction the sound as coming from, towards the kitchenette._

_On the countertop next to the microwave was Jack’s phone, and underneath it was a single sheet of paper._

_The sound of drums was covered by ringing that would have blocked the sound of their hyperventilating if their breath hadn’t caught in their throat the moment they saw the phone. Slowly Elanor walked towards it, their limbs suddenly feeling as if they had been filled with ice-cold lead and completely unaware they had dropped their own phone. Reaching the countertop they moved the flip phone to the side, their hand shaking as they tried and failed to pick up the note. They didn’t need to pick it up to read it though, there was only one word written on it and it took up half the page. When they read that single word, their whole world shattered for the second time in their life._

_GOODBYE._

_“N-no, no no no nonononononoNONONONO!” They started screaming, mindlessly repeating that single syllable while their knees gave out and they sank to the floor. Sobs wracked through their body as they brought their knees to their chest and clutched their head in their hands, tears cascading down their face. Jack wasn’t just gone, he had left._

“NO!” Elanor gasped awake, shaking and finding themselves unable to breathe. In some small and still rational part of their brain, they knew they were having a panic attack and needed to steady their breathing, but the rest of their mind had other thoughts. As they tried to take deeper breathes their mind began racing with possible reasons why Jack had left over 8 months ago, they were always working so they should have made more time for him, they should have had him keep going to his therapist despite it being so expensive, they should have been a better sister because if she had just been fucking normal and ignored how wrong it felt when called “she” and “her” and every single fucking time she looked at herself in the mirror and hadn’t been going through all that, then maybe she would have noticed that something was wrong, it was all her fucking fault that he felt the need to leave, it was completely her fault that he was gone, all her fucking fault…

      These thoughts raced through their head at the speed of light, self-hatred strangling them as they curdled up, wrapping their arms around their legs as their slight frame was wracked painfully by sobs. Eyes screwed shut they remained like that for what felt like hours, unable to stop. When they finally ran out of tears and were able to maintain an almost normal breathing pattern, they slowly opened their salt-crusted eyes. The room was dark, the only light coming from the small screen on the top of their phone. Slowly they reached out and grabbed it, bringing it close enough to their face to make out the time on the tiny display. 2:36, meaning they had only gotten about four hours of sleep, if that.

They knew trying to get more sleep was pointless, after a nightmare like that they would be tossing and turning for hours, the mere thought of having another one making their nerves go haywire and sleep impossible. They knew they should get up and brew a caffeinated beverage and put on a show while trying to wake up enough to be able to function throughout the day at work. Elanor knew all of this, and yet they still lay in bed simply staring at the wall, arms and legs now uncooperative and a sadly familiar weight firmly settled in their chest. They knew what the weight meant and what it heralded for at least the next few days if not the next few weeks, what those seemingly endless days and nights would be like, but that didn’t mean they had to acknowledge it, didn’t have to give it the name they knew it had. So instead they simply laid there and closed their eyes, wishing to simply fall into a dreamless sleep.

                                            ------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Six days after placing Alphys’ order it arrived at the bookstore. Mrs. Ellis was still nervous when it came to monsters, even if it was a timid little monster like Alphys, so it was up to Elanor to call her since they were the only other employee that worked there during the week.  They had been right about how the rest of the week would go, each morning forcing themselves out of bed and into their morning routine, mindlessly following the same motions; wake up from nightmare, stare at wall for x hours, get coffee brewing, take shower, get dressed, eat breakfast and now cold coffee, stagger out the door and to work while caffeine takes effect, and finally force a smile onto their face while walking the mile to the bookshop so no one would see how dead they were inside.

Even though the past few days had been exhausting Elanor felt some of the weight lift at the idea of talking to Alphys again. Sure, the previous conversation had been brief, but it was rare that they met a fellow science lover who also liked anime, something that Elanor looked forward to talking to her about. Pulling Alphys’ number from the customer database they had entered her into, Elanor dialed the number on the store landline and waited for Alphys to answer.

“Hello?” Alphys’ voice timidly crackled through after the third ring. Elanor cringed at the static, they really needed to convince Mrs. Ellis to invest in a new phone, preferably one that had been made within the current decade.

“Hi there, this is Elanor from Edward’s Books, is this Alphys I’m speaking to?” Elanor asked, being sure to follow the standard conversation for calling a customer.

“H-hi Elanor, this is Alphys, did my book arrive?” Alphys replied, sounding more at ease now that she knew who was calling.

“Yes, it just arrived today, when would you like to come get it?”

“I can come by in a-an hour if that’s okay?” The lizard monster questioned.

“That’s perfect, I’ll be here so see you then.”

“S-see you then.” Alphys said, and then hung up. As Elanor put the phone down they sighed. An hour to wait and since it was just after lunch there probably would only be a few, if any, customers, meaning that it was going to be a long hour.

Grabbing a stool from the storage room, they sat at the front desk and stared at their daily Sudoku puzzle, the blank boxes taunting them. Normally they could fill in the boxes with little to no difficulty, but today they just couldn’t focus, the static that came with the weight in their chest filling their mind and making thinking difficult. They always hated this, how one stupid event could affect them for days after it happened, how simple tasks suddenly became impossible, and how it seemed like everything got to them no matter how hard they tried to just get over it. They hated how sometimes they couldn’t even tell what triggered it, how sometimes they just woke up and it was just _there_ , weighing them down. They hated how weak they were for feeling this way so much, how pathetic they were when they couldn’t do something as simple as get out of bed, when they would cry because the weight _hurt_ and it was just too much to deal with and why wouldn’t it just stop, why couldn’t they just get better, what did they do to deserve everything that happened…

The sudden feeling of someone touching their shoulder shocked Elanor out of their spiraling thoughts. Slowly they raised their head from their hands and looked to their left to see Mrs. Ellis standing there, a warm smile on her face and sadness in her eyes. They hadn’t even heard her approach.

“Elanor dear, do you need to take a break?” She asked softly, concern lacing her voice. All Elanor could do was nod, suddenly finding themselves unable to speak. Shakily they got off the stool, tremors racing through their entire body. Mrs. Ellis lightly held onto their left arm and began guiding them towards the breakroom, causing both relief and shame to flood their mind. They were grateful for the help, with the static filling their head it made everything hard to process, but at the same time they hated it, god, how pathetic were they that they needed a 52-year old lady to help them walk to the breakroom, why couldn’t they just be normal, they were a special level of fucked-up, that’s probably why Jack left, they were-

“-anor, Elanor come back to me sweetheart, come on Elanor, I know you can do it, Elanor you can beat this, come on dearie.” Suddenly they were sitting in the breakroom with Mrs. Ellis leaning in close, worry and concern written plainly across her face, and then relief when they made eye contact with her.

“That’s my girl. Now I’m going to put on that show you like, the British one about that detective, and then sit with you here until a customer arrives, alright?” She said quietly, knowing how they would react to any noise level above a soft conversation in their current state. Since she had been turning towards the TV she didn’t see their flinch at the word “girl”. Elanor watched as Mrs. Ellis turned on the TV and went to Netflix to put on _Sherlock_. After turning down the volume and putting on the subtitles she moved towards the table in the back to grab an extra chair and sat next to them, careful to leave them enough space. They waved in her direction to get her attention.

“ _How long was I out of it for?”_ Elanor signed, not trusting their voice.

“Not too long dearie, just a few minutes. Do you need anything?” The concern was back in her voice, although Elanor doubted it ever really left. Mrs. Ellis was the motherly type, always worried about someone when they were hurt and doing her best to make them feel better. It was nice to have someone care so deeply about them. A small smile spread on their face in an attempt to alleviate some of that concern.

“ _No, I’m fine for now. A customer named A-l-p-h-y-s is coming in around 1:30 to pick up an order, she’s one of the monsters that came in a few days ago, so I thought I’d handle it because I know you’re still nervous around monsters.”_ They signed, fingerspelling Alphys’ name and informing Mrs. Ellis of the situation, who looked shocked at what they said about how she reacts around monsters.

“I suppose I am still a tad nervous around them, I’m just not used to them is all.” She chuckled, looking slightly sheepish.

“ _I can still help her with her order, I should be fine by then.”_

“If you say so. Just know that I’ll be close by in the storage room if you need anything, alright?”

Elanor nodded, and they both turned back to the show.

                                  -------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The bell to the front door chimed and Elanor looked towards it with a smile on their face. They had returned to the front desk only a few minutes ago, and true to her word Mrs. Ellis was just out of sight but not out of hearing range in the storage room. Although they still felt a bit mentally shaky they wanted to get back to work, it wouldn’t have been fair to Mrs. Ellis if they remained in the breakroom, especially since they were being paid to work, not have emotional breakdowns. Alphys walked through the front door and approached the desk.

“Hi Alphys, are you ready for to enter the world of _Naurto_?” Elanor asked while pulling the order from a shelf underneath the desk, amusement in their voice. They knew a little bit about _Naurto_ , they used to watch the anime but fell horribly behind and never had enough time for the manga, and even though they weren’t up to date with anything that was happening it was still one of their favorite animes.

“Yeah, if what I hear about it is true t-then it should be great!” Alphys said excitedly, stutter barely present. “I’m going to start watching the anime with Undyne p-pretty soon, she’s my girlfriend and enjoys anime al-almost as much as me.”

“That’s awesome that you have someone to watch the show with you, I used to watch it forever ago but when I fell behind I never found the time to catch up because I didn’t have anyone to watch it with,” Elanor confessed as they handed over the manga. “You’ll have to let me know what you think of the show and manga.”

“Um if y-you give me your phone n-number I c-can text you about it a-as I watch it.” Alphys stammered, nervously looking at the ground.

“Sure, just hand me your phone and I’ll enter it in to your contacts.” They said, feeling sympathy for the smaller monster. They knew how hard it could be to judge if someone actually wanted to talk to you or if they were just being polite. At their answer Alphys’ face lit up and she handed her smartphone to them. Smiling at the _Mew Mew Kissy Cutie_ background they quickly entered their phone number and handed the phone back to its owner. “There you go, enjoy the book and the show.”

“I will!” Alphys exclaimed, joy plainly showing on her face. Suddenly she grew somber and looked towards the ground. “Um, I’m s-sorry if this is awkward b-but thanks for being so n-nice to me and to m-my friends. It hasn’t exactly been th-the easiest thing m-moving up here and not a lot of people h-have been very welcoming to-towards us. Sure, s-some of them h-have been polite, b-but you could tell it wasn’t sincere.” She looked back at Elanor. “I’m glad to have met you.” The honesty present in Alphys’ feature got to them, wrenching their heart. They knew the world could be a cruel place, especially if you were different, but at the same time they couldn’t imagine just how much worse it was for the monsters since they were a whole different species.

“It’s absolutely no problem Alphys,” They said with a smile, trying to convey how much they meant it. “If you ever need anything just send me a text, I’ll do my best to help you out.” At this Alphys smiled and visibly relaxed.

“Hey Elanor, um, would you l-like to come over s-sometime and watch anime? You could w-watch _Naurto_ with me and Undyne or w-we could watch a different one, it’s whatever y-you would want to do.” Their grin grew wider at the offer, it had been too long since they had someone to watch anime with.

“I would love that! If you’re ok with waiting a couple days then we could do it Saturday, I have weekends off most of the time so that’s what would work best for me.”

“That works, I’ll let Undyne know you’re coming o-over and text you the address,” Alphys said while slowly walking towards the door. “Just to let you know, she can be a little…intense, but s-she’s nice once she gets to know you. I’ll see you Saturday!”

“See you Saturday.” Elanor said while waving as Alphys walked out the door. A small smile rested on their face. They had made a new friend and now had plans to watch anime with her. For the first time in a while, things were looking up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the summary. Elanor has a nightmare about when they came home to find that their younger brother who they were raising, Jack, ran away. They wake up and have a panic attack and pretty much hate themselves and blame themselves for Jack leaving, and all this triggers a depressive episode. Six days later they're still depressed, and after a phone call from Alphys they sink into more depressive thoughts until Mrs. Ellis snaps them out of it. They then take a break in the backroom until just before Alphys arrives and receives her manga. Alphys then thanks Elanor for being so kind and invites them over to watch anime the following weekend.
> 
> That's about it, I hope to keep posting about every other day so let's hope I can keep this pace up!


	3. What Did You Do to This Perfectly Good Human, Look at It, It's Got Anxiety!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Elanor goes over to Alphys and Undyne's house for anime, what could possibly go wrong? Also an alternative title could be "Look at the author ramble about an anime they like."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Holy crud this is a freaking long chapter! Hope you all enjoy it!
> 
> Tags that apply: Anxiety

           Saturday approached faster than usual, probably because this was the first time in almost a year that Elanor actually had plans for the upcoming weekend. When the weekend arrived, they found themselves feeling more nervous than they had in years, the anxiety racing through their veins causing them to pace to try and relieve the excess energy. While the time to leave for Alphys’ house slowly approached, Elanor raced the length of the main floor, from the far side of the living room, into the kitchenette, and back again, their speed not even remotely reaching the speed of their flashing thoughts. What if Alphys was just being polite when she offered and didn’t actually want to be their friend, what if she hated Elanor’s taste in anime and then hated them for it, what if there was something in the anime she found offensive? So many things could happen, maybe they should just stay home, after all, they really didn’t need friends, right? They’d been living without them for over a year now, what was a few more?

            As the possibilities of everything that could go wrong swirled in their mind, Elanor noticed how their hands had begun to shake. At the rate they were falling into old habits they would soon be…doing some less than desirable things. They shook their head, trying to clear it of their worrying thoughts. They were better than this, Alphys was nice and seemed to like anime just as much as them, if she didn’t like one then they could try another, it’s not as if they would run out of options anytime soon. They breathed in deeply, and then exhaled, trying to calm their nerves. They could do this, they just needed to stay calm.

            Glancing at their watch they noticed how they had about seven minutes until they needed to leave. Maybe the walk would help ease their nerves. With this idea in mind Elanor grabbed their favorite baseball cap, the one with the NASA logo on it they had picked up on a trip when they were 12, pulled on their light jacket to cover their arms, and with keys in hand, exited the condo. After locking the door, they began walking down the steps to the ground level, thankful they lived on the second floor.

            As Elanor stepped into the mild sunlight they were glad they had moved to an area that had almost daily cloud coverage. Sure, they could live somewhere sunny and simply invest in sunscreen, but after being slathered with it daily as a child they had come to hate the smell of it and the feeling of it on their skin. They would much rather cover up instead, at least they could take off the jacket once they were indoors, any sunscreen would stay on until it was washed off.

            As Elanor walked the two miles to Alphys’ house they tried to distract themselves with the scenery, afraid their nerves would get the best of them. The sky was covered by large gray clouds that slowly rolled across the sky. The wind lightly blew bits of leaves and anything else unfortunate to get caught in its path around, swirling around and making tree branches slowly sway. There was an almost surprising number of trees in the area, but considering the town was right next to the forest that surrounded Mt. Ebott, maybe they shouldn’t have been surprised. The traffic was light for a Saturday afternoon, and as they quickly walked towards the housing development where the monsters had been placed it became even lighter. The development itself was placed on the edge of town and it had been near completion when the monsters had come up from the Underground, so they had moved into it.

            As they approached the development Elanor double-checked the address Alphys had texted them the night before. The number on the first house was 400 and Alphys said hers was number 413, so luckily they didn’t have much farther to walk. The houses themselves were simple, but pleasant looking with two stories painted a variety of calming colors depending on which house you were looking at, a garage, and a small backyard. The streets were empty as they approached Alphys’ house, which was painted a sky-blue color. They slowly began walking up the driveway to the concrete path to the front porch, tapping a rhythm against their right leg and checking the watch on their left wrist. 11:59, they were a minute early and normally that wouldn’t matter, but with their nerves running rampant they found themselves slowing even more, watching the seconds tick down. Elanor had always been a stickler for details, something that used to drive her roommate in college crazy, but when they were nervous it became so much worse, every number in an equation needing to be perfect, every pencil in place, and heaven forbid they be even a minute late.

            The exact moment their watch read 12:00 Elanor was knocking _Shave and a Haircut_ on the door, relieved that they weren’t late but still anxious about how the day would go. From inside they heard an unfamiliar, rough but feminine voice shout “I got it!” and then the door swung open, revealing an unfamiliar monster who nearly made their heart stop. The blue monster in front of them was tall, having around three-fourths of a foot on their 5’6 height, and was slender but with obvious muscle mass. She wore dark jeans that were tucked into combat boots, a black tank top, and an eyepatch that went over her left eye. Her red hair was pulled back into a ponytail and there were blue fins about where her ears would be. What nearly caused Elanor’s heart attack though, were most definitely the eye and teeth of the monster standing before them. Her yellow eye had a black slit that served as a pupil, which was locked on them and she was grinning almost impossibly wide, showing off large and extremely sharp yellow teeth. Between the eye and grin the look on her face she resembled a predator that had just caught its prey.

“Sup, punk! Come on in, Alphys and I have been waiting for ya!” She stepped to the side and as Elanor took a meager step forward, slammed her hand on their back in what should have welcoming, but instead knocked the air out of them and caused them to stumble into the home. Stairs to an upper level were right in front of them, and to the left was an open area that looked like a living room, and an open kitchen stood on the opposite side of the room. As they regained their balance a blue scaled arm came to rest on their shoulders and next thing they knew Elanor was being guided towards the brown couch that rested against the wall that held up the stairwell.

“I’m Undyne, and from what Alphys has been telling me you must be Elanor,” Undyne said, looking them up and down, eye narrowing marginally for a split second after completing the once-over, then returning to its original look. “Go ahead and take a seat, Alphys will be here in just a sec, she fell asleep at her desk last night so she slept in and is just now finishing getting ready.” Elanor nodded and sat near the end of the couch while Undyne plopped onto the other end, gaze still on them. Alphys hadn’t been joking when she said Undyne was intense, they could practically feel her stare boring a hole into their soul. For a moment they both simply sat there like that, Elanor trying, but mostly failing, to not freak out while Undyne watched them.

“So Elanor, how’d you come to work in a bookstore, Alphys tells me you’re a nerd like her so why aren’t you doing anything science-y?” Undyne asked, smile long gone. Elanor shifted, the fact that they were the center of the attention and being asked about their past making them uncomfortable.

“Well at one point I was going to school to do something more ‘science-y’, I was duel-majoring in Mechanical Engineering and Physics with minors in Mathematics and Computer Science, I had to pull some crazy hours but it was a lot of fun,” they said, a small smile spreading across their face as they remembered the classes they took and the wacky professors they had. “Of course not everyone would have found it fun, hell a majority of the people that heard about my degree plan thought I was insane, but I was a major nerd back then.”

“Why’d you stop?” Undyne asked, seeming genuinely curious. They had to physically concentrate on keeping their face calm as a pang of sorrow echoed in their chest, the last thing they wanted to do right now was open up about why they had to drop out during the second half of their second year.

“Some stuff came up so I couldn’t afford it because secondary schooling is stupidly expensive, so I moved here just over two years ago and I was lucky enough to get a job at the bookshop,” they shrugged, trying to play it off as no big deal. “I might go back one day to finish my degree, just need to save up enough money for it.” Elanor looked over at Undyne to gauge her reaction. She still seemed to have a searching look in her eye, but it had lost its predatory gaze. Soon the silence between them was filled by the sound of fast footsteps from upstairs. When they looked up a yellow clawed hand could be seen grabbing the railing at the top of the stairs.

“Hey Elanor, I-I’m so sorry it took me so long, last night I was so focused on a pr-programming project that I lost track of time and then I fell asleep so next thing I knew it w-was 11:30-,” Alphys rambled as she quickly rushed down the stairs. “-and I knew you’d be here soon so I needed to hurry but I still ended up making you wait and-.”

“Alphys, just chill and sit on the sofa, I’m gonna grab some popcorn.” Undyne said while getting up, a slight smile on her face as she glanced at her girlfriend. Alphys looked sheepish as she walked over towards the couch. Today the smallish lizard was wearing a large _Attack on Titan_ t-shirt and black sweatpants, both looking baggy and extremely comfortable. As she sat in the spot in between Elanor and where Undyne had been sitting she turned towards them, excitement in her eyes.

“So are we going to watch _Naurto_ or did you think of something better? We have Netflix and internet access, so we should be able to find just about anything.” Alphys said excitedly, stutter completely nonexistent for the first time since they had met her. After hearing the question a wicked grin spread across Elanor’s face. As much as they loved _Naruto_ , there was an almost unlimited number of animes to choose from, and after thinking through everything they had watched over the years, they had remembered a fairly new one they simply needed to show Alphys, and hopefully Undyne would like it as well.

“There was this one show that I thought would be fun to watch, it’s based off a manga and it’s only on Netflix at the moment, it’s called _Seven Deadly Sins_ and it’s so freaking good!” They began enthusiastically, glancing over at Undyne as she walked back into the room with two bags of popcorn- one salted and the other plain- in her hands. “So it takes place in about the middle ages I think, and there’s these people called Holy Knights who are supposed to be protecting the kingdom and they can use magic, but it turns out they’re trying to start a war so this princess goes out to find this old group of villainous knights called The Seven Deadly Sins- they’re called that because each of them committed a terrible crime- and she wants them to stop the Holy Knights and goddamn I need to stop talking so I don’t spoil anything.” Elanor ended with a laugh.

“That sounds great!” Alphys said as she grabbed the TV remote, pulling up Netflix and quickly entering the show’s title into the search bar. “Is there a lot of action or romance or anything like that in it?”

“There’s a good bit of fight scenes in it, and I’m going to warn you, one of the main characters who I’ll point out to you can be a bit of a perv towards women, which is unfortunately a recurring theme in anime, but he gets a bit better as you get farther in the show. There’s also a lot of character development and one of the characters has a really sad backstory, just all in all it’s really good, like it’s definitely one of my favorites. It’s a little slow the first couple of episodes though because they’re doing things like introducing us to the world and characters, but once the storyline gets going it gets really awesome!”

By this point in time Alphys already had the first episode pulled up and ready to go. After deciding who wanted which bag of popcorn and reading the episode description, they all settled down to watch the show.

                               ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

            After watching the first three episodes it was decided they should all take a break, much to Alphys’ and Undyne’s disappointment. At their reactions to the show Elanor grinned wickedly, they had forgotten how much fun it was to watch shows like _Seven Deadly Sins_ with other people, especially when they got into it as much as Alphys and Undyne seemed to. As much as Elanor loved watching their reactions to certain parts of the show, like Undyne’s to the fight scene between Meliodas and Gilthunder, the discussions the group had were even better. Elanor hadn’t been able to argue over something as silly as anime since Jack…They shouldn’t go there. If they started reminiscing over the times they watched anime with Jack then they would be a killjoy for the rest of the day, and they wanted this day to keep going as well as it had been, morning and first meeting with Undyne aside.

            Suddenly there was loud knocking at the front door, startling the three of them. Undyne quickly looked towards a clock that rested on the wall above the television.

“Crap, I forgot about Papyrus’ cooking lesson!” She exclaimed as she vaulted over the arm of the couch and ran to the door, swinging it open wide once she reached it. Standing on the other side was the tall skeleton Elanor had met at the bookstore, this time wearing a plain orange t-shirt, jeans, and orange sneakers, and still wearing the red scarf and gloves he had been wearing the first time they met. Once the door was opened he quickly strode into the living room.

“GREETINGS UNDYNE, ALPHYS.” He said, nodded to them both as he spoke. When he noticed Elanor thought, he paused for just a moment before the corners of his mouth turned up in what they thought- and hoped- was a smile.

“HELLO HUMAN, I BELIEVE WE MET AT THE BOOKSTORE LAST WEEK, HOWEVER INTRODUCTIONS WERE NOT MADE.” The skeleton then posed dramatically, right hand flying to his hip and the other to his chest. “I AM THE GREAT PAPYRUS, PUZZLE EXTRAORDINAIRE AND PASTA CONNOISSEUR.”

“Um hello, I’m Elanor…” They trailed off. It wasn’t the skeleton’s enthusiasm or the volume at which he spoke that was leaving them tongue-tied, it was the introduction, were they supposed to say things about themselves as well? If they were supposed to, then what would they say, that they were a nerd, they watched way too much TV? Papyrus didn’t seem put off by the lack of details in their introduction though, merely smiling- it definitely had to be a smile, he seemed too cheerful for it to be anything but a smile- and reached out to shake their hand.

“IT IS NICE TO MEET YOU FULLY, ELANOR! ARE YOU HERE FOR A COOKING LESSON WITH UNDYNE AS WELL?” He questioned.

“No, I’m just here to watch some TV with Alphys and Undyne. What are you guys going to be making?” They questioned, slightly curious. If Undyne was a good cooking instructor then maybe they should ask to join in on the lessons, their cooking skills could definitely use some improvement. It wasn’t that they couldn’t cook, they could follow simple recipes and cook some basic foods like French toast and chicken noodle soup, but there was definitely room for improvement.

“TODAY WE SHALL BE WORKING ON MY SPAGHETTI, ALTHOUGH I DO NOT KNOW HOW ONE IMPROVES UPON PERFECTION, BUT NONE THE LESS IT WILL FUN!” He said enthusiastically.

“Yeah, it will be awesome, you should totally join us!” Undyne said, her smile finally looking real. As they had watched the show and talked about it she seemed to slowly grow more relaxed until she finally seemed at ease with Elanor’s presence, whatever it was about them that had been bothering her seemingly becoming irrelevant.

“Is that fine with you, Alphys?” They asked, turning towards the lizard. They were perfectly ok with participating in the lesson, even if spaghetti was fairly simple to make, but they didn’t want to leave Alphys on her own, especially since she was the one that invited them over.

“It’s alright with me, go ahead and join them, I think you’ll have fun.” She said, smiling with a certain look in her eyes. To Elanor it almost looked mischievous, leaving them confused and slightly nervous. What were they missing here?

“Sweet, come on punk, this is going to be fun!” Undyne practically shouted, grabbing Elanor’s arm and dragging them over to the kitchen, Papyrus following the both of them. The kitchen wasn’t very large, but it seemed nice. The floor had dark brown wood and the walls were painted a light grey, an island with a granite countertop partially separating that room from the living room. A metallic grey refrigerator sat to the left of the entryway on the edge of the kitchen, a countertop similar to the island with cabinets above and below that running from the fridge to the corner of the room, where a microwave rested. The far side had a two-sided sink resting just below a small window that looked into the backyard, a black stove top and oven about a yard away from that, and then a large walk-in pantry occupied the other corner of the room.

“Papyrus, get the ingredients!” At Undyne’s shout Papyrus ran over to the pantry and began throwing the different ingredients at Undyne, who tossed the ingredients onto the countertop by the stove. Elanor ducked and moved out of the line of fire, with the speed Papyrus was throwing the ingredients they were surprised when the tomatoes didn’t explode when Undyne caught them. Once he had grabbed all the ingredients he joined Undyne at the counter, Elanor slowly following.

“Alright, now we get to make the sauce. Elanor, why don’t you do it since Papyrus got the ingredients.” They hesitated and then walked up to the counter, unsure because they had never made tomato sauce before, they simply used store bought whenever they made spaghetti. They looked to Undyne for instruction.

“Alright punk, so here’s what you do,” She said, grinning. She held out her right hand and suddenly a glowing light blue spear materialized there, which she then handed to Elanor. “You’re going to take this spear and crush all the ingredients, minus the pasta, into sauce. I recommend using the non-pointy end so none of them get stuck on the end, but it’s up to you.”

            Elanor gazed at the spear in fascination. They had never seen a monster use magic before, so seeing the spear materialize in front of them made a thousand questions race through their mind. How did magic work, is there a limit to how many spears she can make, how durable are they, does she have to be within a certain range before they dissipated or did they stay in existence once she created them, and so many more. They were all questions to be saved for later though, at the moment they had a task to perform. They turned back towards the majority of the ingredients, which were now in a bowl, and raised the spear to begin crushing them, careful to not scrape the ceiling with the pointed head. For a moment, they hesitated, and then looked at Undyne.

“Is there a specific way to do this, or do I just crush them however I want to?” From what they had seen of Undyne they knew she put enthusiasm into whatever she did, and the cooking lesson seemed no different.

“It doesn’t matter, just put your heart and soul into it!” She exclaimed. Turning back to the tomatoes, they began quickly crushing them, slowing for a moment when some tomato juice flew onto their face, but then returning to their previous pace.

“That’s it, don’t stop! By putting your soul into it these ingredients don’t stand a chance!”

“NYEH HEH HEH, WITH YOUR SOULFUL CRUSHING WE WILL SOON HAVE THE BEST PASTA SAUCE EVER TO BE CREATED!” Papyrus added, excitedly looking on. With their cheers fueling them, Elanor began crushing even faster, and soon had all the ingredients mushed into a thick sauce. Grinning from ear to ear at what they had done, they laid the spear on the island behind them, careful not to get any residue from the sauce on the countertop.

“Alright Papyrus, now throw the pasta into the pot and turn up the heat!” Undyne shouted, a near maniac grin on her face. Elanor watched in amusement as he threw in the noodles with enough force to cause a large amount of water to splash out, and then cranked up the dial on the stove top. They then felt someone tapping on their shoulder, and when they turned around they saw Alphys standing there with a grin on her face and holding a fire extinguisher out to them.

“You’ll need this in j-just a moment.” She said, and then quickly scurrying away. Elanor turned back towards Undyne and Papyrus, confusion evident on their face. Why would they need a fire extinguisher, they were just cooking noodles, how on earth could-

“PAPYRUS, THAT’S TOO MUCH HEAT!” They heard Undyne yell, and looked up to suddenly see the entire pot on fire, flames quickly rising. With a yelp, they quickly ran over to the stovetop and aimed the fire extinguisher, quickly putting out the flames. Heart pounding they turned towards Undyne and Papyrus, who both had slightly singed faces from standing right in front of the pot when it caught fire. After a moment of silence, Elanor began laughing.

“How the freaking hell did that happen?” They laughed as they put down the fire extinguisher. “It wasn’t even the pasta in the pot that started it, it was the freaking pot that was on fire!” As they laughed, Undyne and Papyrus joined in, Elanor’s laughter apparently contagious.

“Trust me, if we had any idea how that keeps on happening we would have taken care of it a while ago.” Undyne said.

“You mean this isn’t the first time that’s happened?” Elanor practically yelled. It honestly made no sense how something like that could keep happening, so all they could do was laugh about it.

“IT HAPPENS WITH SURPRISING FREQUENCY,” Papyrus said with a chuckle. “MY BROTHER AND ALPHYS ACTUALLY MADE A RULE THAT IF UNDYNE AND I ARE TOO COOK ANYTHING THEN A FIRE EXTINGUISHER MUST BE READY TO USE.” They all stood there for a moment, simply laughing. Once they all caught their breath, Elanor glanced at their watch.

“Crud, I need to get going so I can do laundry.” They said as they quickly began walking towards the door, spotting Alphys on the couch. “Thanks for having me over, this was a ton of fun, we’ll have to do this again sometime.”

“No problem, I had fun too.” Alphys said as Undyne and Papyrus walked out of the kitchen.

“Yeah, you’re alright, punk.” Undyne said, her smile finally reaching her eyes and looking friendly.

“I TOO ENJOYED THE TIME SPENT IN YOUR COMPANY, HOWEVER SHORT IT WAS!” Papyrus exclaimed, that seemingly being the only volume at which he could speak.

“Bye you guys, hope to do this again!” And with that Elanor took off towards their home, grinning widely while thinking about the new friends they made.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter Summary:  
> So while getting ready to go to Alphys' house, Elanor starts getting nervous because they haven't had friends in a really long time, and nearly work themselves in having a panic attack and not going. They end up going and meet Undyne, who doesn't seem to like them at first. It's revealed that Elanor had to drop out of college in the spring of their sophomore year, for reasons currently unknown. Alphys joins them, they all watch Seven Deadly Sins (great anime, I recommend it) and then Papyrus shows up for a cooking lesson. Elanor joins them, the pot catches fire so Elanor puts it out, and then they all laugh about it before Elanor leaves, happy they made new friends.


	4. Holy Headcanons, Batman!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Filled with headcanons and bad puns. (I only apologize for the puns.)
> 
> (I'm so sorry, I tried uploading this last night but my Wi-Fi was on the fritz, so it had to wait until today. Sorry!)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Sleep disorder, near panic attack, unintentional mislabeling of a nonbinary person, mention of past bullying.

            The sound of The Trans-Siberian Orchestra’s rendition of _The Carol of the Bells_ dragged Elanor out of their sleep deprived haze. It had been another week of restless nights followed by caffeine filled mornings, and they knew that soon they were due for another crash where their body would finally say enough’s enough and they would sleep for twelve-plus hours in one day as they recovered from the lack of sleep. It was rare that they needed to crash, but there were only so many near sleepless nights a person could take. Hopefully it would be either tonight or next weekend, they really didn’t want to miss work and worry Mrs. Ellis. She knew that they had troubles sleeping and sometimes had to miss work because they crashed in the middle of the week and always tried to be understanding of the situation, but Elanor always felt like crap for making her worry.

            They flipped open their phone to discover new messages from Alphys. The two of them had been texting almost daily since last week’s anime and cooking session, debating silly things like which anime character had the best backstory and which branch of science was the best- Alphys was currently saying robotics while Elanor argued for physics- and texted each other just for the fun of it. As they read the messages a wide smile broke out across their face.

* _Alphys: Hey Elanor, Undyne and I just finished setting up my new temporary lab here on the surface, do you want to come and see it?_

_*Elanor: Holy freaking hell, YES I WANT TO SEE YOUR LAB!!! I haven’t even SEEN any scientific equipment since I left college. :(_

_*Alphys: LOL, it’s at my house so just text me when you’re on your way. XD  
              By the way, Sans and Undyne will be here too, Sans wanted to check my lab out because he likes science too and Undyne likes how passionate I am about science and kinda lives here, so that’s why they’ll be here._

_*Elanor: Alright, I’ll see you all in a bit._

            Putting their phone down Elanor quickly got another cup of coffee going with the Keurig, and then ran upstairs to get ready to head over to Alphys’ house.

                                ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

            Elanor quickly ran up the three steps on the porch and knocked on the door, practically vibrating with enthusiastic energy. Alphys had told them about how she was the Royal Scientist and had had a huge laboratory back in the Underground that had been filled with different forms of equipment, some they knew about and others that they had never heard of. Just the idea of seeing and learning about equipment developed by monsters and never used by humans had them tingling with excitement.

            The door quickly opened and revealed Undyne standing there, grinning from ear-to-ear but looking exponentially friendlier compared to the last time this had happened, something Elanor was exceptionally grateful for.

“Sup punk! Sans and Alphys are in the garage, apparently Sans has joined your side on the ‘which branch of science is the coolest’ debate, so I don’t think either of them heard you knock.” Undyne said, stepping to the side to let them in. As they stepped across the threshold Undyne began walking into the living room and beckoned them to follow her. They did just that, trailing after her as they both walked through the living room, through an open doorway on the right that led to a hallway that ran parallel to the living room and kitchen- a staircase leading to the basement on the right and a small restroom on the left- and a halfway open door standing in front of them where the sound of voices drifted from. Pushing open the door the rest of the way, Undyne and Elanor walked into the newly converted garage.

“i’m telling you alph, robotics just can’t compete, physics can literally explain almost anything in the known universe.” Sans said, leaning back in one of the three swivel chairs that could be seen scattered across the room, his resting in front of the long workbench that lined the far side of the room. The workbench had multiple columns of drawers that acted as supports for its weight, a few lamps placed at different intervals on top of it, and a number of different tools lining the wall above it.

“I’m not saying it’s not important, b-but robotics has so many different applications! And it’s a fast-growing field because people keep coming up with new ideas for it!” Alphys said as she loaded paper into a printer that sat in the corner of the room next to a large computer monitor which rested against the wall opposite the workbench, occupying a majority of the wall. In front of the garage door rested two large whiteboards that could be wheeled around or flipped for more room, and opposite from that stood more tables with different equipment that Elanor recognized, such as a microscope and centrifuge, and even some she didn’t recognize, and next to those in the corner was a large sink. As they stood there admiring the room, Sans glanced over at them.

“heya kiddo, how _punderful_ to see you again.” He said, lazy grin ever present. They smiled at the pun, because they knew Sans was going to be here they had come up with plenty of their own on the walk over. When they saw Undyne face-palm at Sans’ pun though, they knew just which one to say.

“Hey Sans, Alphys. You know Undyne, if you don’t like puns you should probably step out, between me and Sans we’ll probably be making science puns _periodically._ ” Elanor said, keeping their face as straight as possible. Sans chuckled while Alphys snorted, and then started giggling. It took Undyne a moment, but as soon as she figured out the pun she scowled.

“yeah, we really wouldn’t want to see you _sulphering_.”

“Oh my god, please stop.” Undyne moaned, scowling while holding her face in her hands.

“But Undyne, science puns are _sodium_ funny.” Elanor said with a grin, no longer able hold it back. At that pun Alphys began full out laughing, and even Sans chuckled while thinking of his next pun.

“yeah, and there’s _alkynes_ of them.” Sans fired back, the pun war raging between the two of them.

“I’m going to be honest, I’m surprised I’ve managed to come up with this many of them, I guess you could say I’m in my _element_.” Sans began laughing at this one, so Elanor joined in, loving how they were having an actual pun competition, something they’d never done before.

“HOLY SHIT, I WILL KICK THE BOTH OF YOU OUT RIGHT NOW IF YOU DON’T STOP!” Undyne shouted, summoning a spear and banging it against the ground, the sound reverberating in the small space. While Sans and Alphys kept laughing, apparently used to Undyne’s actions, Elanor nearly jumped out of their skin, their heart send racing. Quickly they stuffed their hands inside their jacket pockets to hide the shaking and plastered what they hoped was a convincing smile on their face while they struggled to keep their breathing normal. They were _not_ about to have a panic attack in Alphys’ lab, they were going to calm down and then look around and enjoy everyone’s company, not ruin everyone’s day by freaking out over a loud noise.

“alright undyne, we’ll cool it for now, but only because you asked so nicely.” Sans said with a chuckle, surprisingly not fitting a pun about temperature into the sentence. Elanor cleared their throat and then took a deep breath.

“Yeah, we’ll stop.” They said, thankful they didn’t stutter or lose their voice. Quickly they turned to Alphys. “So, you going to show us around?”

“Yeah, I have a lot of stuff here that I think you’ll find interesting!” Alphys exclaimed, eager to show off her equipment. “You’ll probably recognize a majority of the tools in here, they’re mostly human developed with a few things we’ve made over the years that I think will be helpful for future project I have planned in here, all the stuff for magic is in the other room.”

“Can we go see that? Please?” Elanor asked, panic subsiding as their curiosity and excitement about the unseen equipment grew. Distractions always helped when they were panicking, and there was nothing that distracted them more than science.

“Sure, the other part of the lab is through the door behind you, the one next to the one you came in through.” Alphys said, and the rest of the group began moving towards the door. Elanor quickly turned and opened the door, grinning like the Cheshire cat. As they walked through the door, their eyes widened at what lay before them. There was another large computer monitor pushed up against the wall to their right and machines of various shapes and sizes pushed against the walls, none of which Elanor had ever seen before. They felt like a kid in a candy store, excited and wanting to try out everything. The rest of the group filed in behind them, Sans the only other one looking around since Undyne and Alphys were the ones who set up the lab. He stopped next to the computer monitor and looked at what looked like a large whiteboard, only it was vertical instead of horizontal with a wavy light grey board instead of a white one and a row of lights on one side.

“glad to see you brought a soul monitor with you, not sure how many people would have thought to grab one in the move.” He said, gesturing to the device.

“Wait a moment, ‘soul monitor’, like spiritual essence, it’s completely unique to you, that kind of soul?” Elanor asked, completely lost. The others looked surprised.

“Yeah, why?” Alphys asked, before realizing what their confusion meant. “Wait a moment, did you not know souls were real?” Elanor shuffled their feet, suddenly feeling awkward with the amount of attention on them.

“Well I know some people believe that we all have souls, but I thought it was all just some religious crap the church made up to try and get people to join, the whole ‘save your soul or else you’ll rot in Hell for all eternity’ and all that crud, so I guess I just didn’t believe in them.” At their explanation Alphys and Undyne’s faces grew somber, while the corners of Sans’ smile slightly turned down, his usual smile becoming melancholy.

“W-well, I can assure you, everyone one has a soul, although yours would be a little different from ours.” Alphys said, face lighting up as she had an idea. “In fact, I can show you, would you like to see it?”

Elanor was shocked at the offer. They were curious, of course, but this was entirely new information for them, first finding out souls were real and then being offered the opportunity to see it. Uncertain but willing to put some trust in their relatively new friends, they nodded. Alphys quickly moved over to the soul monitor and rolled it away from the wall, taking a cord from its side and plugging that into the computer.

“Alright, so all you have to do is stand on the other side of this. It will call out your soul and you’ll be able to see it as long as it’s on and you’re standing behind it, and we’ll see a digital representation of it on the screen here. The machine will also take a reading of your stats since these are mostly used as medical devices to monitor patients.” Alphys said as she began typing on the computer.

“Stats? Like video game character stats?” Elanor questioned, rounding the device to stand behind it, the side they were on looking the same as the front, minus the lights on the side. The machine must have been at least nine feet tall, so from where they were they couldn’t see the others.

“Yeah, it’s basically your name, H.P., L.V., E.X.P., attack and defense points, and a short description that can change depending on the situation or how you’re feeling at the moment,” Undyne said, grabbing one of the rolling swivel chairs that were scattered in different parts of the room. “H.P. stands for “hope”, and it’s basically your health bar, if you get hurt physically then the current amount goes down, but can be healed through items or sleeping. If you get hurt emotionally or through a condition that won’t go away, these can affect your total amount, which can only be healed over time or by getting help for what caused it.” The machine slowly powered on as Undyne continued the explanation.

“Attack and defense points are just what they sound like, and can go up over time through training. E.X.P stands for “execution points” which you only get if you kill someone or commit an act of extreme violence,” she said, face growing dark. “This can affect your L.V., which stands for “LOVE” or “level of violence”, which is what it sounds like. If you’re a sadistic jerk, then your L.V. and E.X.P. would be higher than normal. Monsters can check all these stats without calling out the soul, but that takes a lot of concentration so it’s easier to use one of these or to just summon your soul. You ready yet, Alph?”

“Just one more moment, I have to m-make some quick adjustments so it wouldn’t freak out at the lack of magic and the fact it’s l-looking at a human soul instead of a monster soul,” Alphys said, typing as quickly as she could, the clicking of her claws on the keys filling the room. “And done! Alright Elanor, here we go.”

            They felt something stir in their chest, and then slowly a small deep blue heart floated out in front of Elanor, a soft blue light spilling from it. They stared at it in fascination, simply watching as it gently bobbed in front of them as if it were floating on water. They slowly raised one hand to touch it, a tingling sensation racing throughout their entire body when they did so. Just the thought that this was their soul, something they had always denied existed, completely blew their mind.

“ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME RIGHT NOW!” They heard Undyne yell while Sans and Alphys burst out laughing. Quickly Elanor moved around the machine to their friends, their soul returning to their body. They saw Undyne looking like she was ready to throw a spear at the screen while Sans and Alphys laughed. Moving closer, they looked at the screen and grinned at the cause of the commotion.

Elanor  HP 35/35  LV 1  EXP 0  
50 ATK  60 DEF  
Makes science puns periodically.

“i guess you could say she puts her _heart and_ _soul_ into her puns.” Outwardly Elanor laughed at Sans’ joke, but inwardly the cringed, not at the joke itself but at the pronouns. They knew they should say something, but the thought of losing their new friends over that stopped them in their tracks. Only three people knew they were nonbinary, the first being their college roommate, who was the one that helped them figure it out, their brother, who had guessed, and the last person…they didn’t take it well. It was just safer for them to stay quiet.

“So, um, how are my stats? Also, my soul is blue, is that a good thing?” Elanor asked, walking over to the computer, eager to get back to the analysis.

“there’s actually seven different colors your soul can be, each color representing a different trait. since your soul is dark blue, that means your main personality trait is integrity.” Sans asked, grabbing a chair and sitting down, looking like he was ready to fall asleep.

“Yeah, then there’s light blue for patience, orange for bravery, purple for perseverance, green for kindness, yellow for justice, and red for determination.” Undyne continued, counting off each of the colors with her fingers, and then grinning. “Gonna be honest here, punk. We had a bet going on what color your soul would be, me, Sans, and Paps thought it was going to be green so Alphys here bet dark blue just to make things interesting.”

“I wanted t-to say green too, but I had to pick a different color s-so I thought dark blue for integrity because i-if you really believed you should be kind t-to people no matter what then you w-would stick by your beliefs and even be kind to monsters.” Alphys explained, looking sheepish.

“Ok, cool. So, are the numbers on my stats good?”

“Yes, your HP is a little low considering how high your attack and defense are, but overall it’s pretty good.” Alphys said, glancing at the screen, and then back at them. “You must have trained a lot to get them up this high.”

“Yeah, how’d you get your stats up so high, your attack is the same level as mine.” Undyne questioned, eye narrowing marginally.

“It’s probably from all the stuff I did when I was a kid,” They shrugged, trying to appear casual. They knew exactly what caused it, but that was a story they were _definitely_ not telling today, or anytime soon. “My parents knew I had troubles making friends at school so they tried getting me into sports. I played indoor soccer, basketball, dancing, a whole bunch of stuff. Then when I was bullied for the first time in third grade, they had me start taking karate classes so I could defend myself if push came to shove. I started dropping some of the sports as I got older, but I kept taking karate classes until I went to college. I was actually almost ready to take my blackbelt test, but never got around to it because I was busy with schoolwork.” They finished, hoping that was a good explanation. They really did do all that stuff when they were younger, it’s just that wasn’t the whole story. Their explanation seemed to satisfy Undyne, who nodded.

“That’s pretty cool.” Undyne said, and then looked away, awkwardly scratching the back of her neck. “Look, I had to ask because when I first saw your stats when you came over for anime last week, it put me on edge. I trained for years to get where I am, and you showed up, a human with attack stats as high as mine, and it put me on the defensive. I had to make sure you were an ok person because if you weren’t…well we probably won’t last very long.”

            Elanor just stared at Undyne, slightly horrified. They had wondered why Undyne had been so terrifying when they first met, but they had chalked it up to Undyne being Undyne and their nerves running rampant at the time. To find out it was because she had thought they were a threat left them feeling slightly nauseous.

“I would never even think about hurting any one of you,” they started, eager to prove they could be trusted. “I don’t believe in using violence in solving matters, just the idea of hurting anyone makes me sick, that’s why I’m a pacifist. Sure, I can fight if need be, but all I will ever do is defend myself and the people I care about. There’s already too much violence in this world, I _won’t_ add to it.” They said, hoping their sincerity showed.

            At their short speech, Undyne visibly relaxed, and then her impossibly wide grin returned.

“Sweet, now how about you and me do a little bit of sparring?”

“Um, how about no?” Elanor said, shocked at the offer. They just found out Undyne has previously thought they were a threat and then heard their little speech about how they don’t fight people, why on earth would she want to spar with them?

“Aw, come on punk, you’re not going to hurt me, you’re too nice!” She said, slapping them on the back almost hard enough for them to fall to the floor. Once they regained their footing, Elanor looked up at Undyne.

“I may be nice but there’s always the chance of an accident. I don’t want anything bad to happen.”

“Elanor, you’re literally _too nice_ to hurt me.” Undyne said. “Sure, if you land a hit then I might take a little damage, but since you don’t want to hurt me it would barely hurt at all!” Seeing the confusion on their face, Alphys began an explanation.

“You see, a monster’s body is made mostly of magic so it’s attuned to our souls, and whether we want to fight or not affects our attacks and defense. Also if whoever we’re fighting wants to fight can also affect how much damage we take. Since neither one of you would want to hurt the other, there would be barely any harm done if one of you were to land a hit.”

“Well I’m glad that I wouldn’t hurt you, but I’m just not comfortable sparring right now, maybe another time, ok? Why don’t we just go upstairs and watch a movie or something?” They suggested, eager to do something other than spar.

“Fine, we’ll watch a movie this time, but we are definitely going to spar at some point, alright, punk?” After seeing them nod, she turned towards Alphys and Sans. “Hey Alp, what do- SANS ARE YOU SLEEPING RIGHT NOW?” At her yell, Sans slowly opened one eye socket.

“you know me undyne, always _bone-tired_.” He said, ever-present grin taking on a lazy turn.

“We’re going to watch a movie, so get moving you lazy bunch of bones!” With that Undyne exited the lab, Alphys following her. Elanor watched as Sans slowly got up from the chair and began walking towards the door.

“No _fibula_ , that pun really tickled my _funny-bone_.” They said, grinning widely as they followed him towards the door.

“glad you found it _humerus_ , kid.” He chuckled, and with that they both went back into the house to join Undyne and Alphys.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Summary: Elanor is (still, always, forever) sleep-deprived and hanging at their house when Alphys texts them asking if they want to see her new lab, which Elanor immediately jumps at the chance to do. They then head over, and Undyne and Sans are there too. Many bad puns are said, causing Undyne to yell and slam her spear against the ground, which nearly has Elanor have a panic attack. Stuff about souls and stats are said, and Elanor sees their soul, which is dark blue for integrity. They then explain why their stats are high- but don't tell the whole story- and then Undyne offers a sparing session, to which Elanor says no. Then they all go into the house to watch a movie or something.
> 
> BTW: The next chapter will be up either Wednesday or Thursday. I currently have a bunch of homework and a cold, so those are getting priority over this. I will keep writing, there just might be a bit of a delay. Also if you guys have any suggestions on how to improve this story, I'd love to hear them! Just leave a comment here or on my Tumblr enigmasmystery, have a great day!


	5. Bookstore vs. Library

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I really need to come up with better chapter titles...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: More sleep deprivation, Fear/ Racism towards monsters, Vandalism, Mentions of past bullying.
> 
>  
> 
> Sorry if this sucks, it's not beta'd and I wanted to get it out quickly. Also I apologize for the book rants.

            Elanor glanced at their watch and sighed. Just five more minutes, five more minutes and then they could go home and just relax and hopefully sleep instead of having to deal with people. It wasn’t that they had a problem with people in general, it was just that people could be so exhausting to deal with, especially when they were fighting just to keep their eyes open. They still hadn’t crashed yet, and now it was the middle of the week and possibly the longest they’d gone with only four hours each night, this streak lasting fifteen days and counting. It definitely didn’t help that as usual the store wasn’t very busy, only two possible customers were in the store at the moment, and it didn’t look like they were leaving anytime soon. They wished they could text Alphys, or any one of their new friends that they had been texting since the weekend and Alphys had given their number to Sans, Papyrus, Undyne, and Frisk, but they didn’t think it would be very professional of them to text simply because they were bored.

            The chiming of the bell from the front door helped wake Elanor up a bit, and they didn’t need to fake the smile that lit up their face as Frisk walked in, accompanied by a tall white goat-looking monster Elanor hadn’t seen before. The monster was easily 6’5 at least, and wore a long and simple purple dress that reached their ankles, and simple sandals protected their feet. When Frisk saw Elanor they grinned and ran over excitedly, their accompanying adult quickly following them.

“ _Hi Elanor, this is my mom, Toriel!”_ Frisk signed rapidly. Once they had finished their sentence, Toriel began speaking.

“They said-” She started, but Elanor quickly waved at her to stop, not needing the translation.

“ _It’s nice to see you again, Frisk! Are you here to find those books I was telling you about?”_ They signed, delighting in how Frisk’s face practically glowed when they saw Elanor sign back at them.

“ _I am, they sound awesome! My mom is here too because she wants to find some workbooks for me to try and complete before school starts up.”_

“Indeed, now my child, why don’t you go find two books to read for fun while I find those workbooks for you?” Toriel spoke, smiling at Frisk with affection in her eyes. They nodded and ran off towards the children’s section. Once they were out of sight, Toriel turned towards Elanor.

“I swear, the only time that child will sit still is when they’re reading, otherwise they’re always moving or doing something,” She softly laughed. “Now you must be this Elanor I keep hearing about from everyone. It’s a pleasure to finally meet you.”

“It’s nice to meet you too. So, you’re Frisk’s mom?” They asked, struggling to think of conversation topics. Curse their inability to make small-talk when sleep deprived!

“I look after them and would like to be, however there is apparently a system that I have to go through in order to legally be their mother.” Toriel said, growing somber. “I asked them about their biological parents once, all they would say is that they’re gone and would leave it at that, unwilling to talk about it further.”

“I’m sorry to hear that, hopefully the adoption process goes smoothly.” They replied, sincerely hoping for the best, knowing the adoption system can be a rough place for a kid. They had done their best to keep Jack out of it, but he had been in a foster home for about a month while they tried to sort out and process all the paperwork that allowed them to become his guardian. While he was there he had heard some horror stories from other kids, so between that and its negative portrayal in TV shows, they definitely didn’t want a kid like Frisk getting put into the system.

“So far it has been going well, I simply hope it stays that way.” Toriel’s face and voice were apprehensive, but then took a more light-hearted turn. “So, I hear you have been recommending books for Frisk, may I ask what they’re about?” At the mention of those books Elanor’s face broke into a wide grin.

“Definitely! First things first, these are both book series that I read when I was a kid, so don’t judge my taste in books too harshly. So, the first book series I recommended is the _Inkheart_ trilogy, and the first one starts with this girl named Meggie, who lives with her father. Now Meggie loves books and reads a lot, but then eventually she finds out her father can bring a book’s characters into our world just by reading the book aloud! Then a whole bunch of stuff happens and her father gets kidnapped by a villain he accidentally summoned, and I don’t want to say anything else but it’s a really good trilogy and the books are huge.

“Now the second series is longer, but the books are shorter. It’s called _Artemis Fowl_ and that’s also the name of the first book. The main character is this kid, whose name is also the name of the first book, and he’s super smart and incredibly rich, and when he figures out fairies and other magical creatures are real, he decides to capture one for reasons I don’t remember. I can’t remember a whole lot that happens in the first book, but I know it’s a really good series. Honestly they’re both really good series that I might reread just so I can talk about them with Frisk.” Elanor finally finished, always excited to talk about a book series they enjoyed. Toriel laughed, amused by their enthusiasm.

“I’m sure they will enjoy both those series, thank you for recommending them. Now if you’ll excuse me for a moment, I need to find those workbooks.” She said, walking over to the educational section. Only Elanor noticed how as soon as Toriel walked by, one of the customers quickly walked out of the store, fear evident on their face. Elanor frowned, and then shook their head as they slowly wandered over towards the children’s section to check on Frisk. They couldn’t help how people reacted to the monsters, all they could do was hope that soon people would grow used to them and accept them, although the more cynical part of them screamed that would never happen considering how humans had a hard-enough time accepting other humans with different skin colors or sexualities. All they could do was hope.

“Heya Frisk, I see you found both the books I told you about.” Elanor said, spotting Frisk sitting on the ground with _Inkheart_ in their hands and _Artemis Fowl_ resting on the ground next to them. At the sound of Elanor’s voice they looked up, smiling, and then setting the book down.

“ _I just started but considering what you told me about it and what it says on the back, I think it’s going to be really good!”_ They signed, and then their grin faded. “ _I really wish this place was a library instead of a bookstore though…”_ They trailed off, leaving Elanor confused.

“What’s wrong with this being a bookstore, you can buy your own copies of the books here instead of always having to return them.”

“ _Yeah, but if this was a library then I could check you out.”_ They quickly signed, shooting finger guns at them when they finished, a sly grin on their face.

            For a moment Elanor just stood there, completely flabbergasted. This kid was 10, and they were flirting with them, a 21-year-old. How on earth did a kid their age even know how to flirt? They couldn’t even flirt to save their live, and so here they were, getting shown up by a little kid.

“Um, I…I don’t really know how to respond to that?” They said, mind completely blank. God, they were too tired for this. Frisk’s shoulders shook in silent laughter at their reaction, at least they were having fun with this.

“My child, what did you do this time?” Toriel asked, amusement in her voice as she walked over to them, two moderately sized workbooks in hand. Frisk just silently laughed more, unable to sign as the hugged their sides.

“They…just flirted with me.” Elanor said, still trying to process everything. “I’m going to go back to the desk, I’ll stick around to ring you up.” With that they quickly went back to the front counter. At least they could leave soon, all they’d have to do after helping Toriel and Frisk is call out to Mrs. Ellis in the back and then she’d take over for the last two hours before closing up.

“I’m sorry about that, they’re quite the flirtatious child.” Toriel said, walking up to the counter with Frisk. “They even tried it with me, and just after I met them at that!”

“It’s not a problem, I just wasn’t expecting it is all.” Elanor explained, while ringing up the books. “I’m not exactly used to people flirting with me. Especially tiny children who could do a lot better than a bookstore worker like me, or with someone their own age!” They said, fake-glaring at Frisk and then smiling when they couldn’t keep it up. All Frisk did was smile innocently back at them.

“Anyways, mind if I walk out with you, my shift ended and I should probably head home.” Elanor asked, walking around the counter and handing the books to Toriel.

“Of course, I would not mind at all.” Toriel smiled as she took the books.

“Hey Mrs. Ellis, I’m taking off now, have a nice night!” They called towards the back as they grabbed their jacket and hat from the coat hanger by the desk.

“Alright dearie, I’ll see you tomorrow.” Mrs. Ellis’ voice drifted towards them, and they all began walking towards the door.

“So, what kinds of books do you like?” Elanor asked, internally face-palming for the obvious book-geek question.

“I myself am quite fond of trivia books and learning about history. I enjoy learning new things, which is most likely why I want to be a teacher, I-”

            Suddenly Toriel stopped walking and softly gasped, her hand flying up to her mouth in shock and her eyes wide. Elanor followed her gaze to see what caused her reaction, and felt their blood run cold. In the row of the parking lot closest to them, one car stood alone, and even if it were surrounded by other cars it would have stood out. The old blue minivan had at least its driver and rear driver-side windows shattered, glass littering the ground and probably inside the car as well. There were multiple dents and scratches scattered throughout the surface, and written in white paint were multiple insults clearly aimed at monsters. Elanor clenched their fists as the ice that flooded their veins turned into quiet outrage. They quickly turned back towards Frisk and Toriel, moving to try and block the car from their view.

“Hey, why don’t you guys come back into the bookstore for a bit?” Elanor said, gently trying to lead them back in. They watched as Toriel’s shock momentarily turned into anger, and then switched to calm.

“That’s a good idea. My child, you can get a good start on your new books.” Toriel said, picking up Frisk and swiftly walking back into the relative safety of the store. Quickly leading them to the backroom, they spotted Mrs. Ellis at the front desk, who startled at the sight of Toriel.

“Mrs. Ellis, Toriel and Frisk here need to stay in the break room for a few minutes, if that’s ok with you. Also, I’m going to borrow the broom, bucket, and sponge for a little bit, there’s something outside I need to clean up.” Hearing the clipped anger in their voice Mrs. Ellis nodded, knowing very little would cause Elanor to take on such a tone so whatever it was must have been important. Grabbing the bucket from the storage room as they went, Elanor lead them to the break room, setting the bucket in the sink to fill it with hot, soapy water, and then pulling up chairs for the two guests.

“You two can watch television if you want, or read, it’s up to you, just stay here while I take care of the mess outside.” They said, handing the remote to Frisk and then getting ready to take the bucket and sponge outside, grabbing some trash bags for the glass.

“My child, you don’t have to clean it up alone, it is my car after all, I can help.” Toriel said softly, unsure if Frisk had seen the state of the car and hoping not to draw their attention in case they hadn’t.

“You shouldn’t have to. You did absolutely nothing to deserve that so there is no way in hell I’m letting you clean that up, I got this.” Elanor said quietly as they turned towards Toriel, cold fury in their eyes. The thought alone of someone vandalizing a monster’s property simply because they were a monster filled them with outrage, and then the idea that said monster would have to clean up the mess that someone’s hate left when they didn’t do anything to deserve it? They weren’t having any of it. Their anger must have shown because Toriel took one look at them before sighing.

“Very well, I will stay here with Frisk.” With that she walked over to where Frisk was seated and sat next to them as they read their book, clearly invested in the story already. Seeing that the two were settled in, Elanor grabbed the bucket, sponge, and trash bags, and stalked over towards the front of the store. Mrs. Ellis was waiting for them at the front desk with the broom and dustpan.

“Elanor, what’s going on?” She asked, clearly worried.

“What’s going on is some fu-freaking jerks decided it would be fun to trash Toriel’s car!” They whisper-shouted, barely remembering in time to censor themselves in front of Mrs. Ellis. “There’s broken glass and painted insults, I’m going to clean it up the best I can, could you stay with Frisk and Toriel to make sure they’re alright? Please?” They added, seeing the hesitation on her face.

“Alright dearie, just yell if you need any help, alright?” They nodded, taking the broom from her, and then heading outside to the car.

            Up close the car looked even worse, now they could see that the passenger side rear window was also shattered, and as they feared a majority of the glass was in the car. Sighing harshly, they set the cleaning supplies down, and began taking pictures of the damage, which might be needed if Toriel decided to alert the authorities. As they took pictures Elanor looked around the semi-filled parking lot. There weren’t a lot of cars on their end of it, a majority of them were gathered at the clothing store at the other end of the strip, but there were a few scattered in front of the three stores that separated the clothing and book stores. Someone should have seen something, or should have at least reported that there was a vandalized car, but considering how the paint on the car had already dried, it seemed like no one decided it was worth the call, making them silently fume as they grabbed the sponge and started scrubbing.

**Freaks.**

**Cave-dwellers.**

**Abominations.**

            All that and worse was scattered across the surface of the car, almost making it look more white than blue. Elanor scrubbed at the insults furiously, taking their anger out on the graffiti. How someone could do this, especially to someone who seemed as sweet as Toriel, was completely beyond them. They knew it happened, that there was hatred of the unknown in the world, but this understanding did nothing calm their silent fury. No one should ever be singled out just because they were different. No one should have to be put through hell because of something they couldn’t control. This train of thought led them down a trail on memory lane they would rather not follow.

            _They were 5-years-old, and no one wanted to play with them during recess on their first day of kindergarten._

_Elanor was in second grade, and they ran home after school each and every day, terrified that their bullies would catch up to them._

_Now they were in third-grade, and they tried to hide their tears because it hurt to move, but their mom found them crying anyways and held them as they told her about how it just kept getting worse._

_They were in eighth-grade, and they just sighed when more hate-notes tumbled out of their locker and people around them giggled._

_They were finally a senior, so they just kept their head down and counted down the days to graduation, tuning out the whispers and insults that always followed them as they dreamed of science experiments._

They were now scrubbing off the last of the graffiti, only satisfied when every single speck of it was gone. Reaching into the car to unlock it from the driver’s seat, Elanor set about cleaning up the glass. They picked up the larger shards first, dropping them into the double-bagged garbage bags, careful not to cut themselves. They should have grabbed gloves, but in their anger, they had only thought to grab the bare essentials. They swept up the remaining glass as best they could, but the fabric interior would need thorough vacuuming before it would be entirely safe. Sighing, they gathered their supplies and went back inside, quickly detouring to dump the bag of glass in the dumpster behind the store.

            A surprising sight greeted Elanor when they walked into the break room. Mrs. Ellis and Toriel were both sitting in chairs and laughing at something, and Mrs. Ellis seemed just as much at ease as she would will an old friend.

“-and then I had to explain to him, while cleaning up with huge gelatinous mess that was in our rubbish bin in the back, why you can’t leave dough outside in a metal container on a hot day!” Mrs. Ellis chuckled. “I know he meant well, but there are some things that man just shouldn’t do. The second batch turned out quite well though.”

“Sorry to interrupt, but I cleaned it up as best as I could,” Elanor said, truly sorry. They were incredibly relieved to find Mrs. Ellis actually enjoying herself, instead of awkwardly waiting for them to return. “The interior will need to be vacuumed before it’s completely safe and you’ll need to get the windows replaced, but we can cover the holes up for now with some garbage bags if you want. It’s also going to need a new paint job for those scratches, and I can’t help with the dents.”

“No, you’ve done enough as is.” Toriel sighed, rising from her seat. “I’ll simply put it in the garage until repairs can be made and borrow someone else’s car. Thank you for all your help.”

“It’s no problem, just be careful and drive slowly, you should be good to go.”

“My child, come along now.” Toriel said to Frisk, who gathered their books, before turning back towards Mrs. Ellis. “It really was nice speaking with you, I’ll do my best to find those recipes I told you about.”

“Only if it’s not too much trouble, dear.” Mrs. Ellis warmly replied, shaking Toriel’s outstretched hand.

“Alright then, escorting you to your car, second attempt. Let’s do this.” Elanor said, and the group began walking towards the exit.

“You really didn’t have to do all that by yourself, I could have assisted you.” Toriel stated as they approached the car. “But thank you for doing so much.”

“It was no problem, really.” Elanor said, shuffling their feet and then stopping next to the car. “This is where we go our separate ways, drive safely Toriel.”

“I will, and once again, thank you.” Toriel said as she opened up the driver’s side passenger door for Frisk, who waved with a large grin lighting up their face.

“ _Bye Elanor, I’ll text you about the books later!”_

“Okie dokie Frisk, I’ll be on the lookout for your messages.” They laughed, Frisk’s enthusiasm infectious. They then turned, and started on the walk back home.

“Elanor, do you not have a car?” Toriel called after them. They turned around, now walking backwards.

“Yeah, but why drive when it’s only a mile? Exercise for the win!” They yelled, thrusting their arms in the air.

“I could give you a lift you know, it wouldn’t be any trouble.” She offered.

“Nah, I’m good. Thanks though!” Elanor said, waving and then walking towards home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Summary: Elanor is still super sleep deprived and working at the bookstore when Toriel and Frisk come in to get more books. Toriel talks about adopting Frisk, Frisk flirts with Elanor, they all leave the store and find Toriel's car wrecked by monster-haters. Elanor cleans it up, remembering when they were bullied, and then they all leave. Also Mrs. Ellis is now friends with Toriel.


	6. Someone Call A Florist

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The chapter where Elanor learns to hate buttercups.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Unintentional misgendering, panic attack, mention of past bullying, self-doubt, mentions of anxiety, nightmares, and depression, physical violence, and (possible) broken bones.

_*Frisk: Hey Elanor, can you do me a favor?_

_*Elanor: That depends on the favor…What’s up?_

_*Frisk: I need to go back to the Underground to help a friend, but no one really wants to go back. Could you come with me, it’s really important?_

* _Elanor: Sure, but it has to be okayed by your mom._

_*Frisk: Thank you!!!_

_YOU HAVE BEEN ADDED TO A GROUP MESSAGE THAT NOW INCLUDES (9) PEOPLE._

_*Frisk: Elanor said she’d come with me to the Underground, now can I please go?_

_*Toriel: My child, I know you want to want to go back, but I would feel more comfortable if one of us were to accompany you. I don’t have any against Elanor, I would simply prefer someone that can use healing magic if something were to happen._

_*Elanor: If it’s any consolation, I know basic first aid._

_*Frisk: You said I could go if someone would go with me!_

_*Sans: that’s true, tori, you did say if someone went with them then they could go._

_*Elanor: I took classes and everything._

_*Papyrus: IF IT WOULD MAKE YOU FEEL BETTER, THEN I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WOULD BE WILLING TO ACCOMPANY THE HUMANS ON THEIR JOURNEY! I AM SURE ELANOR WOULD HAVE A GREAT APPRECIATION FOR THE VARIETY OF PUZZLES USED THROUGHOUT THE UNDERGROUND._

_*Sans: welp, i guess that means i’ll tag a long too, don’t have anything better to do._

_*Elanor: I learned a lot in those classes, like how to treat snakebites, broken bones, sprains, they were really thorough._

_*Undyne: I guess if Papyrus is going then I’ll go to! I want to say hi to Gerson while we’re there, he’s being REALLY slow about moving everything up to the surface._

_*Elanor: Are there snacks in the Underground?_

_*Elanor: (snakes. Freaking autocorrect)_

_*Papyrus: WHILE WE’RE DOWN THERE WE CAN SEE IF UDYNE’S HOUSE IS STILL ON FIRE!_

_*Elanor: How to clean wounds, how to not get an infection…there was more stuff too, I need to find the booklet they gave me…_

_*Alphys: LOL, Elanor, we understand that you know basic first aid, you don’t need to tell us everything you learned._

_*Elanor: Sorry, tired._ _◉_ ___ _◉_

_*Toriel: I suppose if all of you are willing to make the trip…_

_*Frisk: Yes! Thanks mom!_

_*Elanor: How big is the Underground, like if we’re going to be down there for a while then I can bring snakes._

_*Elanor: (SNACKS! I AM SO DONE WITH AUTOCORRECT!)_

                               ---------------------------------------------------------------------

            Saturday arrived and Elanor sat outside their condo, waiting for Papyrus to come and get them. They said they could walk to the skeleton’s new home, but he had insisted on driving them, so they waited while sipping on a Red Bull. Normally they wouldn’t drink something with such a high caffeine content, but they were still having difficulties staying asleep at night so they were going to try and stay awake for today, and then pick up something from the nearby pharmacy to help them sleep later that night.

“’SUP PUNK!” was suddenly yelled in their ear, causing Elanor to startle awake and scramble backwards, their heart sent racing. They didn’t even realize they had been dozing, giving Undyne the perfect opportunity to sneak up on them. They stared up at the maniacally grinning fish woman with wide eyes, unable to form words.

“Fuhuhu, punk, you should have seen your face!” Undyne cackled. “That was hilarious, I really scared you, didn’t I?”

Elanor didn’t respond, not for a lack of trying. They were trying to breath, to sign, to do anything, but they couldn’t, the only sign that they were still alive were the tremors racing up and down their body. They knew they needed to move, they needed to breath, they really needed air, come on, breathing is a near-involuntary function, they should be able to do it, right? When they didn’t respond Undyne looked down at them, her face beginning to show signs of concern.

 “Hey, Elanor, you alright?” she asked, leaning over and offering a hand to help them up. For a moment they just stared at her hand, focusing on trying to grab it. After an awkward moment of silence, they quickly grabbed it, letting themselves be pulled up with a gasp, which lead to a coughing fit.

“Shit, just breathe, ok? If I had known you’d react like this, I wouldn’t have scared you…” Undyne trailed off, unsure of what to do.

“hey, what’s going on?” Elanor raised their head and through the black spots beginning to swarm their vision, they saw Sans now standing in front of them, a mixture of curiosity and concern on his perpetually grinning face. Slowly, they began to cough less and breathe more.

“I saw her sleeping on the curb so I thought I’d scare her, but when I did she just kinda stopped moving?”

“I’m ok…” Elanor finally managed to say, their voice raspy and rough. They grabbed a water bottle from their bag, and after taking a few swigs, tried talking again. “See, it’s all good.” They grinned, trying to convince the other two. They didn’t want to admit it was a panic attack, especially since it was a relatively small one when compared to some that they’d had in the past, and their friends didn’t need to know that about those just yet. Sans and Undyne didn’t look convinced.

“Really, I’m fine now, just don’t scare me when I’m sleeping and everything will be fine. Come on, let’s go.” They said, plastering a grin on and putting their hands into the jacket pockets, fiddling with their contents.

“If you’re sure, punk...” Undyne said hesitantly.

“Of course, I’m sure, now let’s go check out the Underground, didn’t Papyrus say that your old house might still be on fire?” Elanor asked, eager to change the topic. Undyne looked over them one more time, and when she was seemingly satisfied, huffed out a laugh.

“You bet it’s probably still on fire, this IS my old house we’re talking about here!” Undyne said, and she and Elanor began walking to the red convertible where Papyrus and Frisk were waiting. Neither of them noticed the hesitant and untrusting look that appeared for just a moment on Sans’ face before he followed them back to the car.

                         --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“WELCOME TO THE UNDERGROUND! HERE WE HAVE THE KING’S THRONE ROOM, WHICH WILL LEAD US TO NEW HOME AND THE REST OF THE UNDERGROUND!” Papyrus said, gesturing to the room they all just entered. Elanor looked around in awe, eager to take in all the details of this new area. Sure, they’d been inside caves before, but they’d never seen anything like this before, they wouldn’t even had guessed this room was underground. There were yellow flowers almost completely covering the floor and golden light filtered in through the windows, giving the room a serene feeling. They gave a low whistle as they looked around the room.

“Wow, this is nice! Does everywhere around here look like this?”

“nah, the underground a pretty diverse place. there’s new home just outside here, hotland, waterfall, snowdin, and then the ruins.” Sans said. “the names are pretty self-explanatory.”

“Yeah, New Home is kinda plain, Hotland has a bunch of lava and the Core, Waterfall has a ton of water, Snowdin has snow, and then the Ruins are, well, ruins.” Undyne explained, walking towards the door with the rest of the group beginning to follow.

“Two questions; are we going to have to walk through all those areas, and what’s the Core?”

“WE WILL MOST LIKELY HAVE TO WALK, IT DEPENDS ON IF THE RIVERPERSON IS STILL DOWN HERE OR NOT. THEY WERE THE MAIN FORM OF TRANSPORTATION BETWEEN THE DIFFERENT PARTS OF THE UNDERGROUND. THE CORE IS A GIANT MACHINE IN HOTLAND THAT POWERS THE UNDERGROUND, THROUGH…SCIENCE THAT SANS WOULD BE BETTER AT EXPLAINING.” Papyrus answered as the group entered a grey hallway that branched in two directions, and, following Undyne and Papyrus, they all took the path on the right.

“alright, long explanation or short?” Sans asked, glancing over at Elanor.

“Long explanation with as much detail as possible.” They answered quickly, mind already whirling with possible ideas and eager to know how it worked.

“first thing; do you know what geothermal energy is?” He asked, and then seeing their quick nod, started to continue but stopped again when Frisk tugged on his sleeve.

“ _What’s geothermal energy?”_ They signed.

“Geothermal energy is basically energy that is produced from natural heat sources in the ground, like hot springs, or I’m assuming in this case, lava.” Elanor explained, looking at Sans for confirmation.

“yeah, pretty much. now how the core works is it takes water from waterfall and ice from snowdin to act as both a cooling system and a source of water. the water goes into the core, down some pipes into a chamber surrounded by magma, where it turns into steam. the steam then goes back up into the core and turns some turbines to become magical energy. it’s really similar to geothermal plants on the surface, but the difference is in the ice that comes from snowdin. you see, the weather in snowdin is completely reliant on magic, so that magic ends up in the ice and snow in that area, and when that ice gets sent to the core and evaporates and then turns the turbines, the resulting electrical output has magical qualities that makes it different from normal electricity.”

“How is magical electricity different from normal electricity?” Elanor asked.

“eh, for the most part it’s pretty similar, magical electricity just packs more of a punch and has some different properties, that’s all.” Sans shrugged.

“That’s pretty cool, can we take a look at it?”

“We have to take the elevator that’s inside it to get to Hotlands, so you’ll get to see some of it. There’s a lot too it though, it’s a huge machine with puzzles that change the layout a lot, I don’t even know if Alphys has seen everything in there.” Undyne said as they entered the next room.

The corridor was filled with a golden light which danced across the yellow and orange tiles, giving it an otherworldly feeling. Tall pillars supported the ceiling and large windows with some sort of symbol on them lined the wall on one side, while the wall on the other side was blank. They all walked into the room, Elanor, Undyne, and Papyrus not noticing how Sans’ grin slipped for a fraction of a second or how Frisk momentarily hesitated to walk in.

“I have to admit, you guys sure know how to decorate, holy shi-itake mushrooms.” Elanor said, remembering that Frisk was there.

“Heh, you’d think so from this room, but wait until you see Asgore’s old home.” Undyne said, chuckling. The group walked out of the corridor and into another long grey hallway.

“So, you guys mentioned five different areas of the Underground, did you all live in the same area or different ones?” Elanor asked, attempting to fill the silence.

“Nah, we all pretty much lived in different areas, I was in Waterfall, Alphys was in Hotland, Toriel was in the Ruins, Asgore was here in New Home, and then the skelebros lived in Snowdin.” Undyne said.

“yeah, snowdin was a pretty _chill_ place to live.” Sans said, grinning.

“SANS, THAT WAS TERRIBLE AND YOU’VE USED THAT ONE BEFORE!” Papyrus exclaimed.

“I don’t know Papyrus, I thought it was pretty n _ice_.” Elanor said, grinning because that was just too easy.

“Ok, why do we hang out with you two again?” Undyne asked, running her hand down her face and looking exasperated.

“come one undyne, don’t give us the _cold-shoulder_.” Sans said as the group approached the end of the hallway, a staircase leading upwards.

“SANS, THERE ISN’T AN ICE PUN THAT YOU HAVEN’T SAID SO YOU CAN JUST STOP NOW.” Papyrus said as they began climbing the stairs.

“Fine, we’ll _cool_ it with the ice puns.” Elanor grinned.

While Undyne and Papyrus groaned, the rest of the group laughed.

                           ------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Oh my god, I’m so glad we’re out of there.” Elanor said, enjoying the rush of cool air as they left Hotlands. They grabbed a water bottle out of their bag and offered the extras to the group, glad they had brought them when Undyne and Frisk both grabbed one.

“You and me both, punk.” Undyne agreed.

“I AM ALSO GLAD TO BE OUT OF HOTLANDS. WHILE THE TEMPERATURE DOES NOT BOTHER ME, THE PUZZLES THERE DO, THEY SIMPLY LACK IMAGINATION AND DIFFICULTY!” Papyrus ranted.

“Yo Frisk, just up ahead is where I started fighting you instead of just trying to kill you, let’s go reenact our battle!” Undyne exclaimed, grabbing Frisk and running ahead.

“UNDYNE, NO, DON’T FIGHT THE HUMAN!” Papyrus said, taking off after them, leaving Sans and Elanor trailing behind.

“We don’t have to worry about that, do we?” Elanor asked, gesturing to where the others had disappeared.

“nah, even if they do start a fight undyne won’t hurt the kid.” Sans shrugged. “speaking of worrying, you wanna talk about what happened in the parking lot earlier?”

“That? It was nothing, Undyne just startled me is all, no big deal.” They said, smiling and hoping Sans would buy their answer.

“no big deal huh? yeah, i guess you could call a panic attack no big deal.” Sans said, rolling his eye lights. At Elanor’s shocked look, he explained. “according to undyne you looked scared for your life and she thought you stopped breathing for a while, and when i got there you were still shaking and looked ready to pass out, there’s only so many things that could be.”

“Maybe she just startled me and I overreacted so now you’re overanalyzing everything.” Elanor replied shortly, desperately trying to end the conversation. They didn’t want to talk about this, they didn’t need anyone knowing how screwed up they were, especially not friends they had only had for a few weeks. It was all still so new, they couldn’t lose them because of their numerous issues.

“that’s always a possibility, i suppose.” Sans said, his grin turning down slightly and his eye sockets narrowing marginally. “or you could be trying to hide it because when you started trying to blow what happened in the parking lot off as nothing, you grinned and practically shoved your hands into your pockets, something that you do when you’re nervous, like when undyne yelled in the garage when we were all over checking out alphys’ new lab, and when we were in the parking lot and you were trying to convince me and undyne that everything was just fine.”

“You got all that from the few times we’ve hung out and I happened to freak out?” Elanor sighed after a moment’s pause, amazed at how much he had noticed, but at the same time disappointed in themselves for not being able to hide when they were feeling anxious. Sans simply shrugged.

“i’m pretty good at reading people. now that we’ve got the denial out of the way, you want to explain?”

Elanor stopped walking and chewed on their bottom lip, staring ahead. They could tell Sans everything, or they could just give him enough to get him to drop the subject. If they said everything…honestly they couldn’t predict his reaction to the whole story behind their panic attacks, so as much as they wanted to get it off their chest, they decided the bare minimum would be the best. They would just have to be convincing.

“Look, I’m not very good with people. I can smile, crack a joke or two, basically do enough to deal with customers. Beyond that, I’ve always been pretty clueless and there’s been people in my life that caught on to that. I’ve dealt with a lot of bullies throughout my life, and they can mess a person up a lot, making them second guess themselves on everything, should they say this, can they wear that, and basically make everything that they could ever possibly do seem like the wrong option. Combine that with the anxiety my messed up brain chemicals had already given me and panic attacks become a pretty frequent thing.” As they looked at Sans to gauge his reaction they hoped that their story was enough.

“that’s pretty rough, kid.” Sans sighed, leaning up against the cave wall. “if you don’t mind me asking, what’d they pick on you about?”

“Sans, I’m a shy albino nerd with huge glasses and anxiety, the easier question would what didn’t they pick on me about.” They said, rolling their eyes. “It was basically whatever they could find and we could be here all day talking about the different bullies I had and things they picked on me about, so how about we drop it and catch up with the others?”

“alright kid, you got it.” Sans said, starting to walk towards the exit. “just know you’ve got some friends that think you’re pretty cool.”

Elanor just stared for a moment, and then a genuine smile lit up their face.

“Thanks.”

                    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Come on Paps, let’s go see if my house is still on fire!” Undyne said, grabbing Papyrus’ arm and dragging him off to one of the pathways on the right. Sans and Frisk followed, but Elanor lagged behind. They enjoyed hanging out with everyone and seeing where everyone had grown up, but after their conversation with Sans they just felt a little off. They began wandering, lost in their thoughts. If only anxiety was the only issue they had, life wouldn’t be easy, but it would be so much better than it currently was. They wouldn’t have nightmares about Jack and their parents, they wouldn’t have days where they could barely move due to lack of energy and motivation, and they wouldn’t have days where they were desperate to just feel normal and feel the need to do stupid things just to block out those feelings.

They reached the end of the path, a small pond of water filling the gap between it and the next part of the path. A part of them wanted to keep going and see what was ahead, so they backed up, took a running start, and then leaped across the gap with practiced ease. They hadn’t been running in forever, they really should start that up again, maybe even try to get back into parkour, that had always been a favorite pastime of theirs until they became too busy with college to keep it up. Elanor kept walking, listening to the sound of water slowly running around them and also keeping an ear out in case their friends came looking.

As they walked along the corridor, they noticed a grey door on the wall. They stopped walking and stared at it. From what they had seen, most of the doorways around here didn’t actually have doors, and this one just looked…off. It was grey, but not like a painted grey, more like as if it had been completely drained of color. Intrigued, they walked towards it and grabbed the doorknob, shivering at how cold it felt. Elanor opened the door, and walked in.

As they walked into the room, everything seemed to shift. The sound of running water was instantly replaced with a soft, buzzing static that seemed to fill their ears, and beyond the grey floor, there was a darkness that seemed to stretch on forever. Looking ahead, they saw a figure further in the room.

“hello?” They tried to say, but any sound they tried making was instantly swallowed by the static. Scared, but eager to try and figure out what was going on, they walked further in, and saw someone standing stock-still near the center of the room. They were so much taller than Elanor, and seemed to be staring off into space, the two dark holes that they assumed were eyes appearing empty, one more crescent-shaped with a large crack going up the skull, and the other one wide with another crack running down into their smile. Below their skull was what looked like the top part of a turtleneck sweatshirt, but the rest of them was covered in a dark substance just like the darkness surrounding the room. In front of them seemed to float two skeletal hands, both with a hole in the center.

Elanor waved, trying to get the monster’s attention, but they remained unmoving. The moment they touched the figure though, the monster jumped as a loud noise reverberated through the static, mouth and eyes opening wide, and two small lights appeared in both eyes. Then the monster began fading away, but right before they faded from sight, the eye lights moved and locked onto Elanor. Then they were gone.

As the shock from the noise and the monster’s sudden disappearance faded, Elanor began looking around. There was nothing else in the room, and an invisible barrier prevented them from stepping into the darkness. Taking a small flashlight from their pocket, they tried shining a light into it to see if anything was there, but the darkness swallowed any light the flashlight produced. Even more intrigued, they took a coin from their bag and chucked it at the darkness with as much strength as they could muster. The coin simply bounced away and fell silently to the floor. They picked up the coin and pulled out their phone, eager to call Sans and tell him to come over to the mysterious room, if this was a magic thing then he would be able to explain, and if it wasn’t then maybe they could call Alphys and figure out what was going on. They dialed Sans’ number, but the phone made no sound while the call was being connected, and no one answered. Putting their phone away, they quickly walked towards the exit. When they exited the room the static disappeared and the sound of rushing water greeted them. Elanor glanced over their shoulder at the door as they began walking away, and only saw the rough, dark blue surface of the cave wall. Frowning, they began feeling around the area the door had occupied, hoping to at least feel the outline of the door, but it had completely vanished.

“Freaking magic, it’s probably freaking magic.” They muttered to themselves.

“Elanor…” The sound drifted towards them from the direction of Undyne’s house. Apparently, their absence had been noticed. They began jogging back and spotted Frisk on the other side of the gap they had jumped over earlier.

“Hey Frisk!” They yelled, picking up speed and leaping over the water, and then stopping next to the kid, who looked relieved to see them.

“ _Where were you, we’ve been looking for almost half an hour!”_ They signed frantically.

“Really, it didn’t feel like that long.” Elanor said, checking their watch. It really had been that long. “Huh. Anyways I found this weird room that didn’t have any walls and the door disappeared, and there was a monster in there too that also disappeared, do you know anything about it?”

“ _I’ve been in there too, it’s really weird. I don’t know who they are though, or why the room always disappears…”_ Frisk signed, looking uncomfortable talking about the room.

“Ok then. I wonder if Sans or Alphys know anything about it.” At the mention of the two monsters, Frisk began tugging on Elanor’s arm. “What’s up?”

“ _You can’t tell Sans or Alphys. Or Papyrus._ ” They quickly signed. “ _Just…don’t tell anyone about the room, or the monster inside.”_

“How come?” Elanor asked, clearly confused. If Frisk didn’t know much, then why would they say not to tell anyone?

“ _I…it makes them sad, finding out about that monster. It’s better to not talk about it. Not yet.”_ Frisk signed, looking them in the eye, trying to make them understand how important this was.

“Alright Frisk, if you say so…” Elanor said, still confused. “How about we get back to everyone else now, yeah?”

                                 ----------------------------------------------------------------------

            The group approached the flowerbed, sunlight from above making the petals appear more golden than yellow. Frisk ran towards it, and began looking at each of the flowers.

“alright kiddo, we’re at the beginning of the underground, where’s this friend of yours?” Sans asked.

“ _I don’t know, he said someone had to take care of these flowers, so I thought he’d be here…”_

“Well, he’s got to be around here somewhere, what does he look like?” Undyne asked, looking a little bored.

“ _He looks just like these flowers, but his face is in the center._ ” When they finished the short description, Papyrus’ face lit up.

“I KNOW WHO YOU’RE TALKING ABOUT, THAT’S FLOWEY! I WAS BEGINNING TO WONDER WHY I HADN’T SEEN HIM ON THE SURFACE. NEVER FEAR, I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL FIND OUR MUTUAL FRIEND! NYEH HEH HEH!” With that Papyrus took off in search of the flower.

“shit, paps, wait up!” Sans said, going after Papyrus, and Elanor noticed what looked like concern on his face. The remaining three looked at each other.

“ _I’m going to keep looking here in case he’s just waiting for everyone to leave. Flowey doesn’t really seem to like other people.”_ Frisk signed, intently watching the flowerbed.

“Alright, I guess I’ll go that way and you can go check over there, we’ll cover more ground that way.” Undyne sighed, turning and then muttering under her breath so Frisk wouldn’t hear her, “I can’t believe we came all this way for a stupid flower…”

After Undyne walked away Elanor began searching in the opposite direction, keeping an eye out for a small flower. They slowly began wandering farther and farther from where the group had split up, occasionally kicking over pieces of rubble in their search. Turning a corner, they saw the other end of the corridor was completely blocked off by debris. It was a dead-end. They sighed and turned around to begin back-tracking.

“Howdy! I’m Flowey, Flowey the Flower!”

They looked down and saw a small yellow flower that looked nearly identical to the ones in the room where they had left Frisk, the only difference being the fact that this one had a face, which was tilted up towards them.

“Golly, you must be lost or something, why else would you be down here in the Underground?” Flowey asked, smiling and slightly tilting his head to the side. Elanor knelt down to get closer to his eye-level and smiled.

“I’m actually down here looking for you, your friend Frisk is here and they wanted to come find you, so I came along to help.” At the mention of Frisk, Flowey’s face froze, and then his head dropped.

“I told them to just forget about me…” He said softly, causing Elanor to feel a pang of sympathy for the small flower.

“Well, from what I’ve seen Frisk is a pretty good kid, they know no one should get left behind. How about we go find them, I’m sure they’ll be happy to see you.” Elanor said, rising to their feet.

“No.” Looking down in confusion, they nearly gasped when they saw how the flower’s face had changed. Gone was the cute, smiling face, and in its place was a jagged grin and pitch-black eyes with only a white slit in the middle of them.

“They still don’t get it, they can’t save me! They need to understand that not everyone is worth saving, and now I’m going to prove it!”

Suddenly there was a slight tearing sensation in their chest, and everything they could see turned black and white, the only exception being the familiar dark blue heart that floated out in front of them, only this time their name, HP, and LV were displayed on it.

“See that? That tiny, little, fragile heart is your soul, the culmination of your very being.” Flowey sneered at them, small, white pellet-shaped objects beginning to float in the air around him. “If it gets hurt, then you get hurt, and if it gets hurt enough, then you’ll die, so you better start moving!” With that Flowey launched the pellets at them. They quickly began dodging, dancing around the projectiles with ease.

“Hey, knock it off! Trying to hurt me isn’t going to do you any good, so let’s just end this now and go to Frisk, ok?”

“No! I don’t want to talk to them!” He yelled, launching another round at them, this time in a wide spray to cover a greater area. They kept dancing out of the pellet’s paths, watching how they flew and quickly moving out of their way.

“Yo, with that kind of aim you should be a Stormtrooper!” Elanor quipped, unable to keep that one-liner to themselves.

“JUST DIE ALREADY!” Flowey yelled, and vines shot from the ground around Elanor. They tried to dodge them, but as they moved out of the way of one vine that would have impaled their soul, another quickly swept across the ground, hitting their ankles with enough force to knock them to the ground. Involuntarily their hands shot out towards the ground, and as they hit the uneven terrain the sound of a sickening snap filled their ears as white-hot pain raced up their right arm. Stifling a yelp, they quickly glancing towards the stats displayed on their heart, eyes widening as they saw the damage dealt.

Elanor  
LV 1  
HP: 18/30

“Holy crud, YOU’RE A LITTLE JERK, I HOPE YOU KNOW THAT!” Elanor yelled, quickly rolling to the left and jumping to their feet, holding their right arm to their chest, trying to keep at least their wrist above their heart, hoping it was only their wrist that broke in the fall.

“At least I’m not an idiot that won’t even fight back!” Flowey cackled, his face transforming into something out of a horror movie.

“That’s because I’m a pacifist!”

Flowey didn’t seem to care as he laughed manically, more pellets flying around them as vines swept the ground. Leaping and twisting in the air, they kept moving, but the pain in their arm seemed to spread down their hand and up their arm, distracting them. They dodged a majority of the obstacles, but they couldn’t keep dodging forever.

HP: 15/30, a pellet grazed their cheek, creating a shallow but long cut.

HP: 10/30, a vine swung against their ribs, knocking the air out of them and left them gasping for breath.

HP: 8/30, their vision was blurring so they didn’t even see the pellet that lodged itself in their lower left leg, sending them tumbling to the ground.

Suddenly the onslaught of attacks stopped, and Elanor looked up at the flower from where they were kneeling on the ground. His grin was wide and the holes where his eyes should have been were hollow as he gazed at them, seemingly triumphant.

“Are you ready to die?” He asked, and a halo of more pellets surrounded them. Shakily, they began to stand up, mentally preparing themselves to start dodging again.

“If you think I’m gonna let a fucking buttercup kill me after everything I’ve been through, you’ve got another thing coming you psycho!” They spat at him, grinning wide. They knew they wouldn’t last much longer, but they weren’t going to let the flower know that. Although maybe they shouldn’t taunt the homicidal monster that was literally ready to kill them. Oh well, hind-sight is 20/20 after all.

“DIE.” Flowey said, the ring closing around them and his laughter filling the air. At the last moment, they ducked, but not before one of the pellets grazed their soul.

HP: 1/30

“HA! Maybe you should try making your death circles into death spheres, ‘cause there’s three dimensions!” Elanor slurred, the world beginning to fade to black. They heard a shout, but the world faded away before they could see who it was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Summary: Frisk convinces a still sleep deprived Elanor to come with them, Papyrus, Sans, and Undyne to the Underground to get one of Frisk's "friends" that are still down there. Undyne scares Elanor which causes them to have panic attack that both Undyne and Sans notice. They all go down, Elanor marvels at the Underground, Sans confronts them about their anxiety, then later on Elanor finds Gaster's room, which then disappears and Frisk tells them not to tell anyone about it. They get to the beginning of the Underground, everyone spreads out to find Flowey, and Elanor is the lucky one to find him, and he attacks them and drops them down to 1 HP, which is where this chapter ends.
> 
> (Sorry for the terrible summary, I'm in a bit of a rush.)


	7. The Freaking Government

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yep, they still hate buttercups! (And the government!)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Mention of dysphoria, past bullying, mention of past nightmare, guilt/self-blame, broken bones, past parental death, past car crash, past physical abuse, more sleep issues, insulting the government (I'm so going to make this a tag).

_Darkness swirled around them like fog and Elanor looked around, trying to make out something, anything, in the abyss. They look a step forward and the sound echoed, as if they were in some cliché film that their college roommate made them watch. As they remembered Zoe, the surrounding mist swarmed even faster, until their old dorm room from freshman year appeared in front of them._

_They were 18 and stressed about their first round of college finals, and when that mixed with their dysphoria and the most recent round of bullying, they had broken down crying in their room, where Zoe had found them an hour later. She comforted them, and when they talked about how they just felt wrong how being called a girl made them want to puke but they didn’t wish they were a guy, she explained what being nonbinary was._

_“So, do you want me to call you by a different name?” Zoe asked, swinging her legs from her desk where she was currently perched. Sipping some much-needed hot chocolate and enjoying its warmth, Elanor shrugged, unsure._

_“I don’t know. Elanor sounds too girly, but’s also my name so I don’t really mind because I’ve had it all my life but at the same time I do and it’s just really conflicting.”_

_“I could call you Nova, no one would care because it’s your last name and at the same time it’s not girly and honestly sounds really cool.” She suggested, face lighting up at the idea._

_“Yeah that would work.” Elanor said, and then a thought occurred to them, making a grin spread across their face._

_“Oh no, I know that look, don’t you dare.”_

_“Another reason could be…”They momentarily paused for dramatic effect._

_“HOE DON’T DO IT!” Zoe screeched._

_“-because I’m a **stellar** roommate.” They said, grinning like the Cheshire cat and shooting finger guns at Zoe._

_“That’s it, I’m done with you, see if I ever help you in your hour of need again.” She said, launching herself off her desk and towards the door, unable to hide the smile on her face._

_Slowly the scene faded away, and once again they were surrounded by near pitch-black fog. They hadn’t talked with Zoe in so long, not since they had argued over Elanor’s decision to drop-out in order to take care of Jack, a decision that to this day they didn’t regret. The only thing they regretted was not being there for him enough. This thought sent the mist swirling once again, this time Jack’s room in the condo forming before them._

_They were 19, so close to 20, and they were hugging Jack with as much love as they could muster as he sobbed, another nightmare waking the both of them._

_“It’s alright Jack, I’m here, it was just a bad dream.”_

_“Y-you don’t get it! I shouldn’t have made them take me to the midnight premiere, I should have waited like they told me to the first time I asked!” He cried, his voice breaking. “It’s my fault we were out at that time, if I hadn’t made them take me then they would still be here! It’s all my fault…” He trailed off, repeating those four words like a broken record. They held him tighter, whispering reassurances and hoping that their words would be enough._

_The scene faded away and left Elanor longing for a happier memory of Jack. He didn’t deserve the nightmares that plagued him almost nightly after the car crash that killed both their parents and left him with only a slight concussion and broken arm. Those nightmares always seemed to plague his nights and leave him terrified to go back to sleep, resulting in long nights for the both of them. What Jack never knew was how they were almost always already awake, their own nightmares haunting them. Once again, the mist swirled, leaving them filled with dread and horror when they realized what awaited them._

_They had just turned 19 a few days ago and oh god they were going to die, he was going to kill them this time, why wasn’t he stopping? He looked down at them and when he saw the fear in their eyes as they struggled to breath, he leaned down and whispered in their ear._

_“It’s alright Elanor, I’m just doing this to help you. I’m making you stronger, you’ll thank me later…”_

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------

            They gasped awake, flinching at the sharp twinges of pain that raced through their chest and arm. Looking around, they found themselves in a bed in an unfamiliar room with crème-colored walls. Light streamed through a window on their left, providing sunlight for a vase of yellow flowers resting on a small desk below it, a full-length mirror resting to its right. Against the far wall was a half-filled bookcase and a dresser, and the door to the room was located further down the wall the bed rested against. It was ajar, and they could hear voices drifting in from outside the room. As they tried to figure out where they were, they began remembering their one-sided fight with Flowey, and cold fury towards the miniscule flower filled their veins. Why the hell Frisk considered that little demon their friend, Elanor would never figure out, they simply hoped they would never have to see him again.

Deciding to explore their new surroundings, they slowly began to untangle themselves from the blankets and stand up, surprised when they only felt a dull throbbing in their leg, chest, and arm. Their arm was held in a sling against their chest, and lifting up their shirt they saw only mild bruising from where a vine had slammed against their ribs, and the cut on their face was only a fresh-looking scar. When they rolled up their pant leg, a task made extremely difficult since they could only use their left hand, there was only a shallow, slightly discolored pit to show where the pellet had lodged itself on the left side of their calf. Frowning, they looked around and started walking towards the door. How long had they been unconscious? They should still have some pretty serious injuries, instead everything except for their arm looked like they had been out for weeks.

            Walking out the door, Elanor found themselves in a short hallway, a window with more golden flowers to their left and more rooms lining the crème-colored walls to the right, which was the direction the voices were coming from. As they silently walked towards the sounds, they saw a staircase leading downwards, and when they stood at the top they could make out the conversation.

“-so long? Alphys, you said she was back at full health, correct?” They recognized Toriel’s voice and wondered what was going on.

“Y-yes, Elanor r-reached 40/40 HP th-this morning, an-and when I checked on her this a-afternoon it hadn’t increased a-anymore, but I d-don’t know why she w-won’t wake up!” Alphys stuttered, panic more than evident in her voice. “I-it’s been 26 hours and sh-she’s been mostly healed, she should b-be awake by now…” As they listened to the conversation they realized their sleep-deprivation had finally caught up with them, resulting in a crash that had everyone worried. Elanor quickly began walking down the stairs, eager to show everyone that they were fine.

“you could bring over the…well look who decided to join the land of the living.” Sans began saying, pausing when he saw Elanor rushing down the stairs. They reached the bottom and found themselves in a room similar to Alphys and Undyne’s living room, but different in furnishings, and gathered there was Frisk, Sans, Papyrus, Undyne, Alphys, Toriel, and a large monster that looked similar to Toriel they hadn’t seen before.

“Um, hey. How’s it going?” Elanor asked while leaning against the hand-rail, suddenly at a loss for words and feeling extremely self-conscious. They had nearly died and spend the previous 26 hours unconscious which was apparently causing everyone to worry, what were they supposed to say to that?

Frisk ran over and tackled them in a hug, nearly sending the both of them to the ground. While Frisk hug-attacked them, Alphys, Papyrus, and Toriel all tried speaking at once, and after the three looked at each other, Toriel began speaking.

“It is indeed good to see you awake Elanor, you had us all worried.” She said, smiling warmly and with relief visible in her eyes.

“I am so sorry about that, normally when I crash it’s only for about 12-16 hours, I’ve never been asleep for 26 hours before and I’m just so sorry that I made you guys worry about me that much.” They rambled, trying to explain and Frisk detached themselves from Elanor’s waist.

“Wh-what do you mean ‘crash’?” Alphys asked, confusion evident on her face, along with the majority of the room. Elanor awkwardly scratched the back of their head, deciding on how to word their answer without causing more worry.

“I…have a lot of problems sleeping, most of the time I can’t sleep solidly through the night,” They started, noticing how Papyrus looked towards Sans, who was pointedly looking anywhere but near his brother. Interesting. “I’ve gotten used to it so I can function on the almost six hours I normally get. Sometimes though I get even less sleep than that and when it happens continuously for a while then I kinda just crash and sleep like the dead for a while and then I’m pretty much right as rain.”

“How l-long have you been getting less sleep th-than usual?” Alphys questioned, looking worried.

“Um, maybe about three weeks this time, give or take a few days?” They estimated, trying to count the nights but in their memory, they all simply blurred together. At their answer the rooms occupants had reactions varying between shocked and concerned.

“W-wait, so when you came o-over to see my lab, you h-had already been having troubles sleeping?” Alphys asked.

“Yeah, I think it had been about a week and a half or something at that point, I’m not really sure. Why do you ask?” Elanor questioned, not quite sure why Alphys would want to know.

“Well, you remember the e-explanation on hope that Undyne gave, right?” Alphys asked, and after seeing Elanor nod in confirmation, continued. “One of the things that can affect your H.P. is if you’re having a chronic health problem, like not getting enough sleep continuously. That would explain why your max H.P. went up, it’s because when we took that reading, your hope had already been decreasing due to the toll the lack of sleep was taking on your soul.”

“Huh. That’s…wow.” Was all Elanor could think of to say to this new knowledge. They knew that not getting enough sleep could be detrimental to a person’s health, but they would never have thought their occasional increased sleep deprivation had that much of an impact.

“Yeah, it’s s-surprising just how important getting enough sleep is.” Alphys said. “You know, th-there’s a bunch of different things you can try, like drinking tea o-or reading before bed, and probably a bunch more.”

“Thanks, Alphys. Alright, new topic other than my sucky sleep habits, like who’s house are we in right now, or who are you, sorry if that sounds rude?” Elanor asked while looking towards the unfamiliar monster, eager to lighten the mood.

“Howdy, I’m Asgore. Toriel and I are in charge of human-monster relations since Frisk is considered too young to be our ambassador, so when I heard you had been injured, I came by to make sure you were alright.” Asgore said, his deep voice reverberating in the small, yet packed room.

“As for who’s house this is, this is mine and Frisk’s home.” Toriel explained. “After the incident with Flowey you were brought to me for healing, Papyrus did a fairly good job at stopping the bleeding and stabilizing your H.P. before it dropped further, but you still required more medical attention so they brought you here. I am sorry about your wrist though; I healed it to the best of my ability but some wounds simply require time to be fully healed, such as a broken wrist.”

“That’s alright, it barely even hurts. What exactly happened, last thing I remember is yelling some very terrible almost last words at that homicidal flower, sorry Frisk, and then blacking out?”

“we all looked around a bit and then went back to the flower bed where frisk was, and when we found out you weren’t back yet we all went looking. then we got there just in time to hear you shouting at the flower and drop, undyne uprooted him while paps ran over to heal ya, and when you stopped bleeding we took you up here. not much to the story.” Sans summarized, slouching in his seat and looking tired.

“Ok, so is Flowey still running amuck in the Underground then?” Elanor asked, suddenly wishing they owned a weed-wacker. Or a chainsaw, either one would work for what they wanted to do to the maniacal buttercup.

“No, he’s currently in a pot in the garage until we can decide what to do with him.” Toriel said.

“Anyone have weed-killer?” Elanor asked, only getting a laugh from Sans, a chuckle from Undyne, and horrified stares from everyone else. “It’s only a joke…more or less.”

“While we understand any feelings of animosity you have towards Flowey, he must face justice for what he did, and his punishment will be decided soon.” Asgore said with a sad and placating expression.

“Honestly that’s all I can really ask for,” they sighed, knowing they should let the monsters deal with their own. “I’m not really one for seeking vengeance when people are jerks to me, it just wastes too much energy.”

“We appreciate your understanding, just know that he will be punished for attacking you.” Toriel said.

“Hey, quick question,” Elanor began, a thought occurring to them. “If I was hurt so badly and out of it for so long, why didn’t you guys take me to a hospital? Don’t get me wrong, I’m thankful for the healing and lack of medical bills, but why not just let doctors take care of me?”

“W-well for one, healing magic doesn’t take as long as human medicine!” Alphys began. “There’s also the f-fact that, um…” She trailed off, nervously staring at the floor. Asgore began where she left off.

“You must understand Elanor, at the moment we are still a very new idea to humans, which means that everything that happens now, and for the next few months at least, will have a very large impact on our future relationship with humans.”

“So, the fact that a monster nearly killed a human wouldn’t reflect too well on you guys.” They stated, processing the information.

“Unfortunately, you are correct.” Toriel said. “Right now your government says we are on a form of ‘trial-basis’, if things run smoothly between us and the citizens of this town, then we will be able to move freely throughout the country soon. If not, then, well, things will become more complicated.”

“Ok, hold on a moment.” Elanor said, raising a hand. “So, first things first, I completely get the whole ‘hide it from the government’ thing, I completely do, you guys are trying to protect the future of your people and hey, everything turned out all right so I’m not going to hold a grudge or anything.” At this statement a tension in the room that had been there since they had asked about the hospital disappeared, the rooms occupants looking more relaxed.

“Second thing, really, those governments jerks decided that this town, the most conservative and backwards town in the whole state, if not the whole country, would be the testing ground for whether or not you guys can get along with humans?!” They threw their arms in the air, signing in their agitation as they continued. “Nothing ever changes around here, a fact that most of the residents enjoy, and they just decided to throw a whole new sentient species at the most close-minded people I have ever met, and they expect things to go all hunky-dory? I’m sorry, but those government jerks set you up to fail.” They finished, running out of breath after their rant. The room was eerily silent after their mini tirade, everyone looking varying degrees of shocked.

“I’m sorry, I’m just not a fan of the government or this town.” Elanor said, running their hand down their face. “You guys are doing fine, I just can’t believe those government jerks. Freaking idiots, thinking they can just pull this kind of crud.” They muttered, annoyed as ever at the government.

“it’s alright kid, you’re just saying what you think, there’s nothing wrong with that.” Sans chuckled, his shock turning into amusement.

“Anyways, I should probably go home, I have work in…” They quickly glanced at their watch, it was nine in the evening. “Eleven hours. Honestly I could hang around but I haven’t done any cleaning yet and that kind of needs to be done.”

“You do r-realize your wrist is still broken, right?” Alphys said, looking at them with a mixture of curiosity and concern. “That means don’t m-move it around, you can’t do much with it, etc.?”

“Yeah, but I can still work and do some cleaning, it will be fine.” They said, smiling and waving with their good hand. “Anyways, where’s my bag and jacket, I sort of need those?”

“ _They’re upstairs in the guestroom where you were sleeping, I’ll go get them!”_ Frisk signed before quickly running upstairs. After a moment, they returned with the items, handing them to Elanor. They put the backpack on the ground and began trying, and ultimately failing, to single-handedly put on their jacket.

“Um, could I get a bit of help with this?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Summary: First up is a dream sequence/flashback, showing their freshman year of college when they discover they identify as nonbinary, then it changes to comforting Jack after a bad nightmare about the car crash that killed their parents, and then it vaguely describes someone in Elanor's past who was physiclly abusive to them. Elanor awakens in an unfamiliar house with a majority of their injuries healed, much to their surprise. They find out they've been asleep for 26 hours and go downstairs to find their friends, and Asgore, waiting and worried about them. They explain their sleep problems, find out they're in Toriel's home because she had to heal them (they still have a broken wrist though, sorry Elanor!) and after meeting Asgore, it's revealed that Flowey is currently in Toriel's garage and he's going to be punished for attacking them. They then talk about the government and how everyone is basically trying to cover up the fact that Elanor nearly died and they're ok with the cover-up, and then Elanor rants about the government. Finally Elanor discovers the struggles of trying to put on a jacket when you have one arm in a sling.
> 
> Quick question for you guys: Would you be interested in a one-shot that shows what happened after Elanor passed out? I really want to write it but then it would delay the next chapter and I'm not sure who's POV to do. Leave a comment below if you're interested and who's POV you'd like it written in, whichever POV gets the most support will win! (I'll also leave a post on Tumblr so you can leave an ask or something there too.)


	8. Frisky-Bits is a Valid Nickname

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time for some chilling.
> 
>  
> 
> (Also I need to come up with better chapter titles, lol)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lol, it's about time I updated this. I'll explain more in the end notes. Also, have you guys seen Game Theory's theory on Gaster, it's pretty interesting. 
> 
> Warnings: Self-Blame, Hurt/Comfort, FLUFF (lol, there's going to be some fluff for once, time to let our characters be momentarily happy) Also there's spoilers for Disney's Mulan, so spoiler alert.

          Elanor finished cleaning the last window in the living room, smiling as the afternoon light filtered in and filled the room. It was the Wednesday after they’d woken up, and due to Mrs. Ellis’ worry about their wrist, they had only been allowed to work half days until it was out of the sling. Due to all their extra free time, Elanor had been doing as much in-depth cleaning of the apartment as they could do with one hand. They looked over the apartment, assessing if it met their standards to allow company over. Toriel had called earlier while they were at work, asking if they could watch Frisk while she shopped around three o’clock, apparently at the request of the ten-year-old. They had agreed to it, and then spent nearly two hours ensuring that their condo was in perfect condition. Glancing at the small digital clock on the oven as they returned the cleaning supplies to their home beneath the sink, they saw it was two minutes until Frisk and Toriel were due to arrive.

The doorbell rang, a short and cheerful tune ringing throughout the apartment. Elanor ran over to the door and opened it, nearly falling over when they were jumped by a small human projectile.

“Easy there, Frisk, let my arm finish healing before you attack me!” They laughed, holding onto the door to keep their balance. The child just looked up at them with a wide grin, shoulders shaking in silent laughter. Toriel watched this exchange in amusement, shaking her head while laughter shone in her eyes.

“Once again, thank you for looking after Frisk.” She said, looking at Elanor. “Normally I would bring them along, but this time they simply insisted on coming over here to spend time with you. My errands shouldn’t take too long, an hour or two at the most.”

“It’s no problem, I’ve got too much free time on my hands right now as it is, at least now it can be spent with this troublemaker.” They said, ruffling Frisk’s hair as they moved to stand by them.

“Well let’s hope you can keep them out of trouble.” Toriel said with a laugh. “They have my cell phone number if you need anything, and you can call any of the others if you can’t reach me.”

“No promises, Toriel!” Elanor said with a smile as the goat-woman began walking towards the stairs that lead to the parking lot, Frisk waving good-bye and Toriel waving back. After shutting the door, Elanor turned towards Frisk, crouching down to be at their eye-level.

“Alright Frisk, what do you want to do?” They asked with a smile. “I have Netflix, books, um…probably other things? Anyways, if there’s something you want to do, we can do it.”

“ _Could we watch a movie?_ ” Frisk signed, looking hopeful.

“Sure, do you want popcorn?” They asked, laughing when Frisk began nodding vigorously. “Alright, the remote is right by the TV, you go find something while I make popcorn.”

While Frisk grabbed the remote and settled on the couch to begin the search for a movie, Elanor moved towards the kitchenette, reaching for the air popper in one of the cabinets and the popcorn kernels that rested next to it. Once the popcorn was salted and ready to go, Elanor walked over to the couch, a large bowl filled to the brim in hand.

“So what did you pick, Frisk?” They asked, settling in on the couch. Frisk simply pointed to the screen, which showed the information for _Mulan_.

“Sweet, I love this movie, press play!” Elanor exclaimed, putting the popcorn bowl between the two of them.

                                              --------------------------------------------------

            By the time they made it to the part where everyone finds out the truth about Ping actually being Mulan after she was injured, Elanor was regretting putting so much salt on the popcorn without grabbing drinks. Pausing the movie with an apology, they quickly got up and moved towards the kitchenette.

“I seriously need some tea before I die of dehydration and you could probably use something too. What do you want to drink, Frisk, I have some ice tea already made up, there’s milk, orange juice, water, it’s up to you.” They looked back towards Frisk for an answer, only to see them hanging their head, clutching at their knees.

“Frisk, what’s wrong?” Elanor asked, panic shooting through their veins as they rushed over to the child. They knelt in front of Frisk, unsure of whether or not they could touch them at the moment. They looked at Frisk’s face and saw their eyes were screwed shut, their expression almost looking pained.

“Hey, Frisky-bits, what’s wrong? Come on Frisk, I need you to let me know what’s going on. Do I need to call your mom, or someone, come on Frisk, I need to know what to do here.” Elanor said, repeating Frisk’s name in the hope it would get their attention. When there wasn’t a response, Elanor stood up, pulling out their phone to call Toriel.

“I’m sorry.”

Elanor looked up from their phone in shock, the small voice, raspy from disuse catching their attention immediately.

“What?” They asked, looking towards Frisk in confusion. When they asked their question, Frisk’s head whipped up, tears in their eyes.

“I’m so sorry, it’s all my fault you got hurt, I should have known Flowey would do something like that but I thought he was better now!” They said, their voice slowly growing in volume. “It’s all my fault he hurt you and your wrist’s broken and you nearly died! I’m so sorry, please don’t be mad…” They dissolved into tears, pulling their knees to their chest and hugging themselves as they sobbed. Elanor’s heart twisted at the sight, they quickly moved onto the couch next to Frisk and pulled them close, holding them as tight as they could with one arm still in the sling.

“Oh Frisk, it’s not your fault, I don’t blame you for anything that happened down there.” They soothed, rubbing Frisk’s shoulder comfortingly. “You shouldn’t blame yourself either, Flowey can make his own decisions. You just wanted to help someone you consider a friend, you had no idea that would happen.” They both sat there for an unknown amount of time, Frisk’s sobs slowly growing quieter while Elanor simply held them and whispered reassurances. When Frisk finally pulled away, Elanor looked down at them, resting their good hand on their shoulder.

“You ok now kiddo?” They asked, smiling softly and trying to hide their worry. The fact that Frisk had been feeling this way at all made their insides churn, and the idea of them feeling guilt-ridden since Saturday when it all happened left them reeling. Frisk was too sweet a child, they should never have to feel something like that in the first place, let alone for something they had no control over.

“ _Yeah, I’m fine now, thanks._ ” Frisk said, switching back to their usual signing.

“Alrighty then, now we definitely need to get you hydrated. How about some hot chocolate, that always cheers me up?” Elanor asked, moving back towards the kitchenette.

“ _No thank you, could I have some warm tea instead?_ ” They asked, shaking their head.

“No problem, I’ll pull out some tea and you tell me which one you want, yeah?” Elanor asked, pulling out tea boxes, slightly confused. It was probably a trick of the light, but at the mention of hot chocolate, Elanor could have sworn they saw Frisk’s eyes flash red. They brushed the observation off to the side, and focused instead of making tea to cheer up Frisk.

                                                     -------------------------------------------------

            The rest of the afternoon pasted in relative peace, they finished _Mulan_ , and the popcorn, and then put on _Tarzan_ because there wasn’t really all that much to do in the apartment, something which Elanor would have to fix later. Not even a quarter into the movie, Elanor noticed Frisk had fallen asleep, curled up against Elanor’s side. Smiling, they slowly pulled down the blanket that was always draped over the back of the couch, careful to not disturb Frisk, and covered the child with it. They moved the empty popcorn bowl to the coffee table in front of the couch, setting it next to the two empty tea mugs. With their phone resting next to them in case someone tried to contact them, Elanor settled in on the couch and watched the movie, the sound of Frisk’s sleepy, even breathing filling them with affection for the small child.

Not too long after, Elanor’s phone buzzed, the setting on vibrate for once thankfully, alerting them to a new text message. Grabbing the phone, they opened the message. It was Toriel letting them know she would be there in about five minutes. After telling her that she would need to be quiet because Frisk was asleep, they put the phone down and began the slow process of putting a pillow in their place for Frisk to lean on so they wouldn’t wake up. While they may have had plenty of experience of doing that with their younger brother when they were both kids, it proved to be an extremely difficult task to perform one-handed. Eventually, after several moments when it seemed like Frisk would wake up, they succeeded, Frisk only slightly shifting to a more comfortable position. Elanor walked to the door and sat outside while they waited for Toriel, keeping the door slightly open so they could hear anything that happened inside. After about a minute, Toriel walked up the steps.

“Hello Elanor, tell me, what did you do to get them to fall asleep? Normally I have so many issues getting them to go to bed and yet the first time they stay with you and they fall asleep!” Toriel chucked, looking amused. Making sure the door was mostly closed, Elanor turned back to her, a sad look on their face.

“Toriel, did you know they blame themselves for what happened in the Underground?” They asked, hoping she didn’t. They watched as first shock at the question flashed on her face, then turning to sorrow.

“Later the night it all happened, yes, they said something along those lines. I assured them it wasn’t, and they seemed to accept what I said. I suppose now that they didn’t.” Toriel sighed. “I assume they mentioned it today?”

“Yeah, they had a bit of a breakdown. I told them I don’t blame them for what happened, but freaking crud, they shouldn’t have to feel that kind of guilt.” Elanor said, running one hand down their face, suddenly filled with exhaustion. “Look, I’m not too good at comforting people and fixing things like this, what do I need to do to get them to understand I haven’t blamed them for a second and never will?” They asked, a pleading look on their face.

“All you can do is reassure them of that, and keep doing that until they finally believe it.” Toriel said, comfortingly placing a hand on their shoulder.

“Alright, thanks Toriel.” They sighed, smiling tiredly at her. “They’re still sleeping inside on the couch, do you want me to wake them up?”

“No, I can do that, you have already done enough for today.”

Elanor opened the door for Toriel, who walked inside, her eyes filling with love when she spotted the still-sleeping Frisk on the couch. She slowly lifted the blanket off of them and then picked them up, experience evident in how Frisk hardly reacted to the movement. They followed Toriel to the door, holding it open for her.

“Thank you once again for watching them.” She whispered.

“No problem, any time you need me to I’ll keep an eye on them.” Elanor smiled, meaning every word.

“I will be sure to keep that in mind, have a nice evening.” With that Toriel walked away, Frisk sleeping soundly in her arms. After watching them leave, Elanor closed the door, deciding to save the rest of the movie for later and to watch something else and take it easy for the rest of the day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Summary: Frisk stays with Elanor while Toriel does some shopping, and they watch Mulan. After seeing the main character in that movie nearly die, Frisk apologizes to Elanor about what happened with Flowey, actually speaking for once. Elanor tells Frisk it wasn't their fault, and we have a slight hint of Chara being in Frisk's head. Frisk falls asleep, which is adorable, and then Toriel picks them up. 
> 
> Update: So I'm sorry there wasn't an update last week, I was super busy between school, work, and family stuff so I didn't have enough time to write. Also I feel like I'm rushing through the chapters and not making them as good as they could be, so I have to change the update schedule once again. So on Mondays there WILL be an update to the main story, and on Thursday/Friday there MIGHT be an update to the story or another one-shot, I'm always open to you guys sending me idea for things you want to see so I'll write it as long as it doesn't do any major spoilers. Once again, I'm sorry to have to do this, but it has to be done. Have an awesome day!


	9. Pay Your Tab, Sans

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Going out to Grillby's woo-hoo!
> 
> ALSO PLEASE READ THE WARNINGS, THINGS ARE GOING TO BE A LITTLE BIT DARKER HERE!!!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: More of the author's terrible headcanons, alcohol, past alcohol abuse, mentions of depression, self-hatred, suicidal thoughts. Sorry, it gets a little bit darker here, but only for a bit!

            Elanor sat on their couch and sighed, absent mindedly flipping through the different shows on Netflix, none of them really catching their attention. They really weren’t used to this much free time, everything that they had wanted to do had been done earlier in the week, and they had watched movie after movie after Frisk had left on Wednesday. On Thursday Alphys and Undyne had come over and the three of them had had a Studio Ghibli movie marathon which stretched from the early afternoon after they got home from work and late into the night, the main reason for the visit being that Alphys wanted to check on Elanor’s wrist. Now it was 6 in the evening on Friday, and Elanor didn’t have any plans and no one had come over or mentioned anything yet.

They turned off the TV looked around their small apartment, trying to think of something to occupy their time until they could go to sleep. They couldn’t draw or write, they were right-handed so any activities using their dominant hand, which was now in a cast, were out of the picture. They didn’t have any computer games installed on their laptop besides the default ones like solitaire, and with their current financial situation they couldn’t really go out and drop a lot of money on a video game they might not even like. They could always read, they owned plenty of books that they had accumulated throughout the years, it was just the fact that nothing seemed to grab their attention when they dusted the bookcases on Tuesday that kept them from going over to the study to browse through their collection.

With an overdramatic groan, Elanor flopped backwards against the couch. This was why they worked all the time, it kept them busy enough so they didn’t notice how dull their life was, how empty it was. They didn’t have a family to visit or be visited by, before Alphys and the others they didn’t have friends to spontaneously hang out with, and they definitely weren’t interested in was dating, they tried it once and it did not go well. Before the monsters had walked into the bookshop, Elanor had had no one. They were alone.

Knocking at the door dragged them from their thoughts and jumping up and towards the door. They weren’t expecting anyone, but considering how there weren’t many people that would come to their apartment, they had a few guesses as to who it might be. Elanor opened the door, nearly falling over when they were once again attacked by a small human projectile.

“You know, Frisk, I’m starting to think this is going to be a regular thing with you.” They said with a laugh, playfully ruffling the ten-year-old’s hair. The child looked up with a wide grin, releasing them from the death hug they had caught them in and then going back over to Toriel, who had watched the scene with silent laughter.

“Hello Elanor, we came by to see how you were doing and to ask if you had any plans for the evening. Grillby, a friend of Sans’ who had an establishment in the Underground, has opened a new restaurant here in town and because it’s the opening Sans, Papyrus, Undyne, Alphys, Frisk, and I are going to have dinner there, would you like to join us?”

“Sure, that sounds like fun, just let me grab my stuff and I’ll be down in just a moment.” Elanor said, leaving the door open while they rushed upstairs to grab their jacket and wallet. They didn’t really need their jacket, it was warm enough outside due to the mid-June heat to not need it and the sky had been completely covered with clouds all day so they didn’t need to be covered, but because they wore their jacket so much it had become almost comforting to wear it. Without their jacket, or one of the their many sweatshirts on, they felt so exposed. They had never been a very physical person, and with their past experiences they had almost come to hate being touched, the idea alone of someone brushing their skin putting them on edge, making them feel the need to always be covered up. With their jacket on and wallet in one of the many pockets lining it, they rushed back downstairs where Frisk and Toriel waited.

“Alright, let’s get going!” Elanor said, shutting the door behind them and locking up the condo. They all walked down the stairs and to the parking lot, where Sans and Papyrus were waiting. Papyrus was in the driver’s seat of the red convertible he drove everywhere, including when they went to the Underground, and Sans sat in the back, apparently napping, something he seemed to do frequently, Elanor curiously noted. There were just enough seats for everyone, with Toriel seated in the front passenger seat, and Frisk in between Sans and Elanor in the back.

“Where’s Alphys and Undyne, I thought they were coming to dinner with us?” Elanor asked as they buckled up.

“UNDYNE DECIDED THAT WHILE WE CAME HERE TO GET YOU, SHE AND ALPHYS WOULD GO AHEAD TO SAVE US A TABLE, IT WILL PROBABLY BE BUSY SINCE IT’S OPENING NIGHT.” Papyrus said, shifting the car into drive and quickly, yet carefully, pulling out of the parking lot.

“Sweet.” Elanor said, leaning out slightly to feel the wind rush by, enjoying the fact that Papyrus seemed to always have the top down.

                                                           ------------------------------------------------

            Elanor walked with the others towards the building, looking at the transformations the old abandoned structure had taken in the past couple months. Before, the single-story building had had almost nearly every window broken and boarded up, graffiti had covered the brick walls, and it had been a known hangout for miscreants, leaving the inside in an even worse condition. Now the walls were clean and the only writing on the building was on the simple illuminated sign reading “Grillby’s” above the door and the windows were clear, allowing a welcoming glow to pour outside onto the gradually darkening streets. Papyrus ran up to the door, holding it open for everyone, and they all walked inside.

            Inside was packed, and it looked as nicely redone as the outside. The walls had been paneled with a dark wood, and orange-stained glass lamps hung down from the ceiling over each booth. Wooden booths with red seats for eight lined both walls, and the center was filled with small square tables. There was a door in the far back corner with a fire exit sign hanging above it, a long bar that took up most of the back wall with shelves that displayed different forms of alcohol, and a lone jukebox sat in the other back corner. At the sight of the liquor bottles, Elanor immediately felt uneasy, long-buried memories of past sins crawling to the front of their mind.

            _It was amusing in a sad sort of way how easy it was to buy alcohol when you were underage. Elanor tried to put their key in the lock, but it just kept moving and they kept wondering why you had to be 21 to buy alcohol, isn’t 18 years of life enough because by then you’re considered an adult? They chuckled as the key finally managed to fit, at least they were 20, that was pretty close to the magic number. Normally they didn’t condone underage drinking, normally they were extremely against it, but they decided to be a hypocrite when they couldn’t get the static in their mind and weight in their chest to go away, embracing the warm numbness the alcohol brought. They just wanted to stop hating themselves and their life for a while, to take a break from the dark thoughts that been screaming at them all day, was that too much to ask?_

_Elanor stumbled into the condo, closing the door behind them and seeing Jack staring at them from the couch, a strange look on his face. As he stood up and walked towards them, there were two of him, making Elanor giggle as they leaned against the door._

_“What the- are you drunk?” Jack asked incredulously, then wrinkled his nose. “Nevermind, I can smell it from here. What the hell, E, you’re not 21 for another year, where the hell did you buy alcohol?”_

_They started chuckling more at the use of their old nickname, when Jack was a baby he couldn’t say their name so he called them “E”, the name sticking over the years, and the familiarity of it amused them. It was funny because their 15-year-old brother still used the nickname he used as a baby, and now that they thought about it, it was funny that they had to look after him more than ever now. They started laughing as they slid down the door, not interesting in standing up because they were just too tired to stay standing. How hilarious was it that they, a newly 20-year-old who should still be in college, had to care for their younger brother because their parents were gone? How amusing was it that they had to work two jobs just to finish paying off medical bills, tuition fees, and keep a roof over their heads and food in the fridge? How fucking funny was it that more often than not now they just wanted to end it all and let it be over but they couldn’t just leave Jack, he needed them._

_Elanor felt Jack wrap their left arm around his shoulder and help them to their feet, tears, wait, when did they start crying, streaming down their face as their laughter turned to sobs. He helped them slowly climb up the stairs and into their room, he was tall for his age, making the task easier, and leaving them sitting on their bed for only a moment as he grabbed a bucket and a glass of water from the bathroom. There was a dark look on his face as he took their shoes off and silently handed them the glass._

_“Drink. You’re going to have a hell of a hangover tomorrow and you need to rehydrate before going to sleep.” He said, voice devoid of emotions as he watched them take a drink. They knew that voice, the look he was giving them. He wasn’t just mad, when Jack was mad he complained, but when he was furious he was silent._

_“Jaaaaaaaack, don’t hate me Jack, I’m sorry.” They slurred, and his face twisted in sorrow._

_“Look, I don’t hate you, I’m just disappointed.” Jack began, his voice taking on a hard edge. “I’m probably going to have to repeat this later but I don’t care; foster care barely let you keep me, if you think they’re just going to let **this** slide if they find out then you’ll have another thing coming. They will take me away from you and put me in the system and you’ll only have yourself to blame, so get your shit together.”_

_At his short speech Elanor felt their stomach drop. They’d have no one if Jack was taken away, they couldn’t handle that. They had had a hard enough time processing the fact that their parents were gone, their bodies buried six feet under with only a fancy stone slab marking the fact they had lived and would be missed._

_“I’m sorry, I fucked up, I wasn’t thinking, I just wanted it all to stop and I didn’t want to do anything stupid but I still did something stupid and I’m sorry I’m such a mess.” They rambled, holding their head in their hands as the world swayed. They heard nothing from Jack, and when they looked up there was fear on his face._

_“What do you mean…” He whispered, pausing and clearing his throat before beginning again. “You’re drunk, go to sleep and we’ll talk tomorrow.” Elanor nodded and laid back, only moving when Jack rolled them onto their side, and fell asleep, comforted by the fact their brother was nearby._

Elanor shook their head, trying to clear the memory from their mind. The next day Jack lectured them, saying they couldn’t go off getting drunk, and they could see how terrified he was. They had remembered a surprising amount from that night, and that combined with the hangover from hell and how scared Jack was, they swore off alcohol, only ever having one other slip-up months later when he disappeared. Even though they had had only two run-ins with alcohol, one longer than the other, just being around it made them nervous, the temptation to slip into a numb oblivion whispering in the back of their mind. They felt a tug on their sleeve, and when they looked down they saw Frisk trying to lead them over to the booth on the left where Undyne and Alphys were waving at everyone. Elanor smiled and focused on their friends as they walked over to the booth, determined not to let memories affect their evening out.

“Hey you guys, it’s about time you showed up!” Undyne grinned. “Alph and I were starting to think we should order without you.”

“We w-were actually only debating what to get, we wouldn’t o-order without everyone here.” Alphys stammered, moving over to make room for everyone. Alphys, Undyne, and Toriel sat on the side closest to the front door while Sans, Papyrus, Elanor, and Frisk all sat on the other, Undyne passing the kid’s menu to Frisk. Elanor took a look inside their own menu, seeing a variety of different foods, mostly different forms of burgers, but there were a few other dishes, such as pasta and salads. They felt a sudden increase in the temperature and looked over to see a nicely dressed fire monster standing at the end of the booth. The servers outfit covered him from his neck down, white sleeves reaching the base of hands, which were covered in white rubber gloves, and black slacks stretching towards his shoes, which were out of sight from Elanor’s position between Papyrus and Frisk. Looking at his hands as he signed, they caught the tail end of something about a tab.

“heh heh, don’t worry grillbz, i’ll pay it off soon. so how’s it going tonight?” Elanor heard Sans say.

“ _It is going quite well, thank you for asking.”_ The flame signed, looking around the table at everyone, stopping when his gaze met Elanor’s and slightly tilting his head in confusion. “ _I don’t believe we’ve met. Hello, I’m Grillby and welcome to my restaurant.”_ At his short introduction, Elanor reached out to shake his hand, awkwardly reaching around Frisk, who was on their left.

“Hi, I’m Elanor, it’s nice to meet you.” They said with a grin, shaking his surprisingly cool hand. It was warmer than average, but considering he looked like he was living fire, they were expecting his hand to be a lot hotter.

“ _It’s nice to meet you too. Now what can I get for everyone?_ ” He asked, looking at the occupants of the booth. They all placed their differing orders and requested drinks, and the flame took off to get everything ready and to get other customer’s orders. Everyone chatted comfortably while they waited, simply enjoying the other’s company.

                              --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

            The drinks arrived and Elanor happily took a sip of their green tea, looking in confusion as they saw a ketchup bottle being handed towards Sans. When he noticed their confusion, his normal grin grew even wider as he flicked the cap open with practiced ease and shot a stream of the red substance towards his teeth, where it disappeared instead of splattering against them, like Elanor had expected. They looked on in confusion, not comprehending what just happened.

“Ok, two things here.” Elanor said, gathering their thoughts. “First question, did you really just drink ketchup like it’s the best thing on earth? Like I can understand liking ketchup, I enjoy it a lot too, but just straight up drinking it?” They stared at him incredulously.

“yep, it’s pretty good without food, you want some?” Sans asked, a mischievous look in his eye sockets as he offered the bottle to them.

“No thanks, I’ve got my tea.” They said, raising their hands. “Ok, second thing, _how_ did you just drink it, are your teeth stuck together, can you even open your mouth? Sorry if all this is rude to ask or something, I’m just trying to wrap my head around it.”

“it’s not a problem, i used to get asked that a lot so i just kinda _grin and bear it_.” Sans said, smile growing wider at the pun. “i can’t open these up but i can choose to let food and stuff in, so that’s how i eat and drink.” He finished, tapping a finger against his teeth, resulting in a clicking sound.

“So sometimes your teeth are solid, and other times they’re just an illusion or something? How does that work?”

“maaaaaaaagiiiiic.” Sans said, wiggling his fingers with a laugh.

                                                  --------------------------------------------------------------

            Elanor watched as Frisk swiped some of Undyne’s fries while she was turned towards Alphys, grinning and putting one finger to their lips as they added the stolen fries to their own basket. Elanor watched in silent amusement as every time Undyne turned away, more of her french fries went into Frisk’s slowly growing pile. After the third time, she looked down and frowned, noticing that something was up.

“Alright, I know I had more fries that that, who’s being a food thief?” She asked, staring at everyone in the booth, stopping at Elanor’s still-full basket of fries that rested next to their chicken Caesar salad. “Was it you, punk?”

“Nah man, these are not the fries you’re looking for.” They laughed, waving their hand in an imitation of the Jedi mind-trick. Instead of laughter like they were expecting, there was only silence as the others looked at them in confusion.

“Okay then.” Undyne said, beginning to turn towards Frisk.

“Come on man, that was the perfect _Star Wars_ reference!” Elanor said, surprised that not even one person laughed.

“Um, wh-what’s _Star Wars_?” Alphys asked.

“Holy freaking crud, you guys don’t know what _Star Wars_ is???” They asked, eyes wide and mouth agape. There was a series of no’s as everyone at the booth confirmed their question.

“Oh my god, this is a crime against humanity that needs to be resolved _tonight_.” They said, excitement building. The others hadn’t seen the movies, they didn’t know about Darth Vader, they were completely new and unspoiled. This was the perfect opportunity. “Ok, after this we are all going to my house and watching the first movie, it’s Friday night which is perfect for a movie marathon, you guys _have_ to watch at least the first one tonight!” They finished with extreme enthusiasm.

“Ok, tell us more about it in a moment, I still need to find out who’s been stealing my fries!” Undyne said, turning her glare towards Frisk. They simply smiled innocently, which didn’t fool Undyne for a moment.

“You know punk, as former Captain of the Royal Guard, I have to do something about you stealing from monsters.” She said, grin wide and would have looked predatory, if it weren’t for the glimmer of laughter in her eye.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Summary: Elanor is bored and hates the fact that they pretty much alone in life, and then the Undertale gang invites them out to eat at Grillby's newly opened restaurant. Upon seeing the bar in the back, Elanor remembers a time when they were 20 and Jack was still around that their depression got bad enough that they got drunk. Jack was pissed but helped them out, and then they swore off alcohol, only having one other incident with it. Elanor then meets Grillby, everyone gets food, Elanor sees Sans drink ketchup and there's more cruddy headcanons of mine (lol), and then Elanor discovers that none of them have seen the Star Wars movies, so they decide to watch them after dinner. 
> 
> Low-key don't like how I ended the chapter, but I couldn't think of anything else, sorry.


	10. Insert Funny Star Wars Reference Here

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> DUN DUHNANA DUNANANANANANANANA! STAR WARS!!!
> 
> (Lol, it's just kinda mentioned, it's more like before they watch and after they watch)
> 
> Also I am so sorry for not uploading last week, I was super busy and then spring break happened so most of the time I didn't even know what day it was (because without my schedule I tend to forget the day of the week, lol) so it wasn't until Thursday that I realized I hadn't even finished the chapter, let alone upload it. So seriously you guys, I am so sorry.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: More terrible puns, past character death, reference to depression
> 
> (If I forgot anything let me know please!)
> 
> Also I don't have a beta-reader, so sorry if any mistakes snuck through!

            The moment the car stopped Elanor leapt out, eager to set up the movie. They hadn’t watched the original _Star Wars_ movies in what seemed like an eternity. They raced up the stairs and unlocked their door, leaving it open for the others as when they caught up. Looking through the few movies they had on the shelf where the DVD player rested underneath the TV, they quickly found and pulled out _A New Hope_ , determined to educate their friends on Star Wars the right way. They would all start with _A New Hope_ and _The Empire Strikes Back_ , sticking with the original release order at first, but after the Darth Vader is Luke’s father reveal, they would go back and watch _The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones,_ and _Revenge of the Sith_ in order to provide Darth Vader’s backstory and motivation, before finally moving onto _Return of the Jedi_. Elanor still needed to buy the newest movie, _The Force Awakens_ , they had seen it in theatres with Jack on opening day, an expense that had been worth it for the smile that had lit up his face and how excited he had been all day, but they hadn’t bought the DVD yet.

            After putting the DVD in the player, they quickly rushed to the kitchen to pull out a bag of popcorn in case anyone wanted some, noticing how everyone was beginning to trickle in.

“Hey, I know we literally just ate but does anyone want popcorn? Don’t worry Frisk, this stuff is already salted so I don’t add too much and _assault_ our taste buds again. Also, sorry about the lack of variety of drinks, I wasn’t expecting company and I normally just drink tea, milk, and water or something so I don’t have a whole lot. Oh yeah, just go ahead and sit on the couch, sorry I don’t have a lot of seating, we can pull up chairs from the dining table or just sit on blankets or something, it’s whatever you guys want to do.” Elanor rambled as they rushed about in the kitchenette, grabbing popcorn, bowls, and cups in case anyone wanted a snack or drink.

“I cannot speak for everyone, but Frisk and I will be fine without snacks or refreshments, thank you for the offer.” Toriel spoke, glancing around the modest apartment before moving to take a seat on the far end of the sofa.

“Yeah, punk, I think we’ll all be good, no need to break out the snacks.” Undyne said, walking in right after everyone else.

“Well, if you guys are sure…” Elanor said, trailing off. “So, seating arrangements, I’m good with pulling up one of the chairs but I don’t think everyone else will fit on the couch.” They finished, eyeing the large couch. It could comfortably fit three people, and four people could sit if they were alright with being close to each other, but six people of varying sizes? It just wasn’t going to happen.

“I’M CALLING PART OF THE COUCH FOR ME AND ALPHYS!” Undyne yelled, picking up Alphys, who yelped when she was lifted into the air, and plopping onto the end of the couch nearest the kitchenette.

“i’m good with being on the ground, i’ll probably fall asleep anyways.” Sans said, settling down on the ground in front of the arm of the couch where Toriel sat.

“Oh no, no sleeping allowed.” Elanor said with a grin. “These movies are a part of human cinematic and nerd history, you cannot sleep through a _Star Wars_ movie, not without offending a large percentage of the human population.”

“these movies are that big a deal?” Sans asked, the slight ridge above his eye sockets raising in question.

“Yes, yes they are.” They replied, grabbing a chair from the table and moving it towards the couch. Frisk was now settled between Toriel and Alphys, Papyrus had already grabbed a chair and settled it by Undyne’s side of the couch, blocking the door. Elanor moved their chair to the opposite side, grabbing the remote as they passed the TV. Turning their chair around they sat, resting their arms on the back of the chair.

“Alright, is everyone ready?” They asked, looking around and getting nods in affirmation. “Sweet. Papyrus, could you turn off the lights, they’re right behind you?”

“SURE THING!” The moment the lights where off, Elanor pressed play.

                                   -----------------------------------------------------------

            As the end credits for the first movie began to roll, Elanor looked around to gauge everyone’s reaction. They had made it through the movie with minimal breaks for explanation, like why the opening narrative crawl said “Episode IV” on it, making the movie play just a bit longer than the normal two hours. Surprisingly enough, there hadn’t been much chatter from anyone during the movie, whenever Elanor had looked over at the others they saw everyone looking completely invested in the movie, even Sans had been awake whenever Elanor looked over.

“Ok, thoughts everyone?” They asked, eager to know if everyone enjoyed the movie. The first Star Wars movie had always been their favorite, whether because of the fact it was the first one they ever saw or because of simply how good it was, they would never decide.

“THAT. WAS. AWESOME!!!” Undyne yelled, leaping up from the couch. “Alphys, you need to figure out how to make those lightsabers so Papyrus and I can duel with them! Wouldn’t that be epic Paps?!”

“YES INDEED, UNDYNE, A COUPLE OF COOL LIGHTSABERS FOR A COUPLE OF COOL PEOPLE, NYEH HEH HEH!” Papyrus replied, jumping up. “WE CAN STILL DUEL THOUGH, YOU CAN USE YOUR SPEARS WHILE I USE MY BONES!”

“PAPYRUS, WE NEED TO DUEL RIGHT NOW!” Undyne exclaimed, moving towards the door.

“Undyne, if you are to be ‘dueling’ with Papyrus, then you must wait until you return home, we do not wish to alarm any humans with such a display.” Toriel said firmly, but with a glimmer of laughter in her eyes, before turning towards Elanor. “And thank you for the movie, Elanor, it was quite enjoyable.”

“Ugh, fiiiiiiiiiine.” Undyne drawled out, dropping back onto the couch next to Alphys.

“Sans, Alphys, did you two enjoy the movie?” They asked, hoping the two science nerds enjoyed it as much as they did.

“Yeah, it was p-pretty great! Do they ever explain the Force m-more, how do the lightsabers w-work, and why did the Deathstar have that one weakness in it?” Alphys asked, looking excited.

“Um, yes, I think they explain that later, and there’s movie that’s coming out in the winter about that.” Elanor replied, vaguely answering each of her questions before turning to Sans. “How about you, what did you think?”

“i had about the same questions as alphys, all in all it was a pretty _stellar_ movie.” Sans replied with a wink.

“I’m glad you think so; the entire series is pretty _out of this world_.” They shot back, ready as always with their own puns.

“an entire series of good sci-fi movies, that’s pretty _far out_.” Sans chuckled.

“I wish I had known we were going to be saying space-related puns, then I would have had time to _planet_.” Toriel joined in, Undyne and Papyrus groaning while Alphys giggled and Frisk’s shoulders shook in silent laughter.

“Undyne and Papyrus, if you guys don’t like our jokes so much you could go into the study to get some _space_ from us.” Elanor said, a grin like the Cheshire cat’s on their face.

“HUMAN, THAT ONE WAS JUST HORRIBLE, I’M SURPRISED SANS DIDN’T SAY IT, THAT’S HOW LAZY OF A PUN THAT WAS!” Papyrus moaned, trying to look cross as the corners of his mouth turned upwards.

“come on paps, you know you liked it, you’re smiling.” Sans chuckled, his own smile looking wider than normal, to the point it almost looked forced.

“I AM AND I HATE IT!” Papyrus said, stomping his foot on the ground.

“Alright, alright, that’s enough of that.” Elanor laughed, amused by the skeleton’s reaction. “So, do you guys want to watch the next one now, it’s another two hours but this one is really good?”

“As much as we would like to, Frisk and I must leave, it’s almost their bedtime.” Toriel said, beginning to stand. Elanor glanced at their watch, just now remembering that would be a factor; 9:43.

“I always forget to check the time when it comes to movies, heh, guess we’ll just have to watch the next one later.” They said with a laugh. “Anyways, are the rest of you guys going to take off as well?”

“we kinda gave them a lift so we should take off as well, sorry. good movie though.” Sans said with a shrug, slowly standing and stretching, the sound of bones popping back into place audible.

“I TOO AM SORRY ELANOR, AS MUCH AS WE WOULD LIKE TO STAY, MY BROTHER IS RIGHT. WE WILL HAVE TO DO THIS AGAIN SOMETIME SOON!” Papyrus added, moving towards the door.

“Alphys and I can stay for a while longer, unless you’re just kicking all of us out.” Undyne chuckled, watching the others beginning to migrate towards the door.

“That sounds great, we can watch more Studio Ghibli movies! This time we have to watch _Howl’s Moving Castle_ , it’s one of my favorites!” Elanor relied while they moved to hold the door for their departing guests, eager for another movie marathon.

“H-hey Sans, if you want to stay then Undyne and I c-can give you a ride back, I think you’d like these movies!” Alphys said, looking excited.

“sorry alph, _tibia_ honest I’m _bone tired_ , maybe some other time.” The shorter skeleton said with a shrug and a wink as he walked towards the now open door, and now that he mentioned it, Elanor noticed just how tired he looked. The continuously present shadows beneath his eye sockets seemed to have darkened, and his eye lights didn’t glow as brightly as usual. His grin seemed strained, and his shoulders sagged like just standing was tiring him. Now that they looked at him, Sans didn’t seem just tired, he looked exhausted. Worry shot through them, and they decided that they would talk to Sans soon to make sure everything was alright.

“Bye everyone, have a nice night, we’ll watch the next movie soon!” Elanor said as Papyrus, Sans, Toriel, and Frisk all walked out, each waving and saying their own farewells. Once everyone was out of sight, they turned back towards the remaining two guests.

“Alright, I just need to grab my laptop and get everything set up, then we’ll be good to go! If you guys want snacks then go ahead, just grab whatever from the kitchen.” Elanor said as they moved into the study where they always kept their laptop and the HDMI cords to connect it to the TV when not in use.

“I’m grabbing popcorn!” Undyne announced, probably loud enough for the neighbors to hear clearly. As they rummaged through the cabinet door at the base of one of the bookshelves for the cables, they heard the sound of shuffling feet from the entryway. Looking up from their task, Elanor saw Alphys awkwardly standing in the doorway.

“You can come in if you want, you don’t need special permission or anything.” They chuckled, turning back to their task.

“I-I just wanted to know if y-you needed help carrying anything because of, um, well, you know.” Alphys said as she walked into the room.

“Nah, I got it, thanks though.” They replied, turning around and holding the HDMI cables in triumph. “Found it!” Looking at Alphys they saw her looking in awe at the books surrounding them.

“Wow, you sure do h-have a lot of books, Elanor.” Alphys said, walking over towards one of the shelves.

“Heh, thanks, I used to read a lot when I was younger and I never could part with my books so there’s multiple years’ worth of collecting here. I’ve actually read a majority of these, if you ever want to borrow one go ahead, just let me know.”

“I might take you up on that offer.” Alphys laughed as her gaze ran over all the titles, and then stopping on the single item on the shelves that wasn’t a book. She reached up and grabbed the picture frame.

“Hey Elanor, who are the people in this picture with you? At least I think that’s you.” She said, and Elanor froze, knowing which picture it was, they only kept one in the study.

“Um, yeah, that’s me and that’s my family.” They said, stiffly moving over towards Alphys and gently taking the picture frame from her while they held the laptop and cord close to their chest. The old photo showed four people, a 12-year-old Elanor, their mother, with almost the same blue eyes as Elanor and with blonde hair, their younger brother Jack with his green eyes and red hair, and their father, an older version of Jack. All were grinning widely in the picture, their joy captured in the photo.

“They all look like nice people; do they live around here?” Alphys asked as Elanor put the photo back in its spot on the shelf.

“No, Jack did for a while, but he’s…gone now.” They said as they faced away from Alphys, clearing their throat and blinking rapidly, trying to make the lump and beginnings of tears from looking at the photograph go away.

“Oh, did he move back with your parents or-”

“Alphys, can we please not talk about this?” They said, voice cracking. This wasn’t something they wanted to think about at the moment, they just wanted to have fun with their friends and enjoy the moment, not think about the past.

“O-oh, ok, y-yeah, no p-problem, sorry.” Alphys stuttered.

“Hey, what’s taking you guys so long?” Undyne asked, popping her head in. She looked between the two occupants of the room, taking in how nervous Alphys looked and Elanor’s tense body language, and walked in, concern on her face. “Hey, is everything ok here?”

“Shit, yeah, sorry, I just…” Elanor stumbled, wiping the few tears that had escaped away, and then sighed as they turned to face the others. “Sorry Alphys, I’m just…not really a fan of talking about my family, it’s, uh, not a fun topic for me.”

“I-it’s ok, I d-didn’t know, otherw-wise I w-wouldn’t have asked, s-sorry.” Alphys said, eager to make things better.

“You couldn’t have known that was a sore topic, it’s just….” They trailed off for a moment, trying to figure out how to explain the situation. “My parents, well, they died a couple years ago, and then Jack took off not too long after. Don’t know where he went.”

“Oh m-my gosh, I-I’m so s-sorry, that’s so t-terrible!” Alphys rambled while Undyne muttered “Shit.” under her breath.

“Like I said, you couldn’t have known.” Elanor said, running a hand down their face while they faced the ground, feeling a familiar weight beginning to settle in their chest. Forcing a smile on their face, they looked up. “Come on, let’s stop talking about sad stuff and watch some movies, I just know you guys are going to love _Howl’s Moving Castle_!”

“Sounds like a plan to me.” Undyne said with a nod, closely looking at Elanor.

“I-if you’re sure…” Alphys said, awkwardly scratching at the back of her neck.

“Of course I’m sure, I’d rather have fun with you guys than mope around!” They replied, and walked into the living room to set up the movie.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Summary: Elanor is a complete nerd and takes everyone back to their house to watch Star Wars. Everyone enjoys it, more terrible puns are said, Elanor notices something is up with Sans, and everyone but Undyne and Alphys leave, while those two stay for more movies. While in the study Alphys sees a picture of Elanor's family, and so they (sort of) explain what happened.

**Author's Note:**

> I also have a Tumblr account if you guys have any questions or suggestions and want to be anonymous. It's enigmasmystery . lol, it's the same as my name on here, just without the m capitalized. It's rather bare but I'll try and put stuff on there! Have an awesome day!
> 
> I don't know if this will be a link to my blog but if not you can always copy and paste. https://enigmasmystery.tumblr.com


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